GMMH's brainHealth Manchester shortlisted for the 2023 HSJ Awards | Awards and accreditations

Awards, Accreditations and Points of Pride

The last two years have been the most challenging in the history of the NHS and we must not underestimate the significant effort that has taken place to respond at pace to the requirements of the pandemic. As the pandemic has progressed, we have seen a rise in the level of mental health needs and acuity and an increasing demand for services and mental health support. Our staff, across all services, both clinical and corporate, have worked tirelessly during the changing demands of the pandemic to adjust, expand and flex the delivery of services to meet the needs of our service users to ensure the least disruption to their care.

We have much to be proud of as an organisation.

  • Living Wage – we have been a Living Wage Employer since 2015 and celebrated our 7-year anniversary in 2022.
  • Vaccination Programme - Through our Gold Command arrangements, we have delivered a comprehensive and speedy vaccination programme to both our staff and service users and have established robust Infection, Prevention and Control arrangements to ensure the safety of all.
  • The Trust’s Recovery Academy , which supports over 7,000 students, returned to face-to-face learning, whilst improving the service by providing access to all the online resources they had built up during the pandemic.
  • The first Green Health Walk opened on the Trust’s Prestwich site , constructed by Sow the City. It was co-designed with service users and staff at the Trust to promote the physical and mental benefits of greenspace and exercise by exploring designated walking routes across our Prestwich site. This innovative approach was proudly exhibited at COP26 - the United Nations Conference of the Parties in Glasgow in autumn 2021. This forms part of GMMH’s Green Plan, which was launched in January 2022 as a ‘blueprint for the next five years’ to support the national NHS net zero pledge.
  • Supported Internship Scheme  - In March 2022, we joined a Supported Internship Scheme which helps young people with learning disabilities to access support, education, and work experience with the goal of progressing into permanent employment. To date, six interns have been placed into roles within their Facilities department in areas such as Catering, Administration, Transport & Logistics and Domestic Services; and one has been offered a permanent position.
  • Breakthrough success of study using virtual reality (VR) to treat mental health problems trialled in Manchester. A national study, delivered by nine NHS Trusts, including GMMH, has found that automated virtual reality (VR) technology can successfully help people recover from mental health problems (April 2022).
  • Workforce - GMMH has been rated ‘Good’ in all areas of our education and training programme for apprentices, following an inspection by Ofsted in May 2022.  
  • Partnership working - A partnership between GMMH, Greater Manchester Police and the North-west Ambulance Service, aimed at improving care for people experiencing a mental health crisis, has been hailed a success. Just six months in (May 2022), over 1,100 cases had been diverted from frontline NWAS and GMP services, with quality NHS mental health support being provided instead.
  • Improving health outcomes for under-served populations - A Research Unit dedicated to researching inequalities in mental and physical healthcare has been launched by GMMH during Equality, Diversity and Human Rights Week (May 2022). The Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion Research Unit is funded by GMMH, and led by Professor Dawn Edge, Professor of Mental Health & Inclusivity at GMMH and The University of Manchester.
  • Improving North Manchester – We're investing £105 million in modern facilities with the construction of a new adult mental health inpatient unit to replace Park House on the North Manchester General Hospital (NMGH) site. Work on the North View site started in August 2022 with the new unit anticipated to be built and operational by 2024.The modern facilities will utilise the latest technology and therapeutic design, to ensure an environment that is both conducive to recovery and pleasant to live in, work at and visit. In June 2022, the new development won a Design in Mental Health Award in the ‘Service User Engagement’ category.
  • The Greater Manchester Universities Student Mental Health Service a partnership between GMMH, NHS Greater Manchester, and the region’s five universities - has been hailed a success (July 2022).
  • Achieve - In July 2022, an external evaluation found that the Trust’s Achieve Drug and Alcohol Service’s approach to partnership-working is effective in supporting recovery from substance misuse, and could be rolled out in other geographical areas. Drug and Alcohol Recovery services for Bolton, Bury, Salford and Trafford have been praised in an evaluation report, undertaken by SQW, an independent research and consultancy organisation.  
  • An evaluation of Living Well Salford (15 August 2022) found that the service has supported people to achieve improved outcomes. The service offers support co-designed by people with lived experience of mental health problems and has also been shortlisted for ‘Mental Health Innovation of the Year’ in the prestigious national Health Service Journal awards 2022.
  • CPR training technology In Oct 2022, GMMH became the first mental health trust to install state of the art CPR training technology. The technology, called Brayden Online, combines a traditional mannequin with an iOS application which uses a cloud server, allowing staff to undertake CPR training at a time, date and location that is flexible for them.
  • National Positive Practice in Mental Health Awards 2022 - we’ve been recognised in the awards (6 October 2022) for a project run by GMMH using a technology called ‘Management and Supervision Tool’ (MaST) to support clinical care and patient safety in Community Mental Health Teams.
  • Research - We’re proud to be an NHS Partner of a bid for Greater Manchester awarded its largest ever research funding (October 2022) to tackle health inequalities and drive health improvements across the city region. This investment will support the delivery of important research into mental health care and treatment at the Biomedical Research Centre in Manchester. 
  • Ceramicists from our  Recovery Pathways service have contributed to the Manchester City Council’s Be Proud Awards 2022 by creating a series sculptures as prizes for winners.
  • NHS Talking Therapies – during 2020/21, more people than ever accessed talking therapies.  Across Bolton, Salford, Manchester, and Trafford, almost 25,000 people completed a full course of NHS talking therapy.
  • NHS Pastoral Care Quality Award - The award recognises our Trust’s work in international recruitment and our commitment to providing internationally educated nurses and midwives with high-quality pastoral care.

Find out more about awards our staff and teams have received below.

GMMH's brainHealth Manchester shortlisted for the 2023 HSJ Awards

Greater Manchester Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust (GMMH) is delighted to announce that brainHealth Manchester has been shortlisted for Modernising Diagnostics at the HSJ Awards, recognising an outstanding contribution to healthcare and securing a place at the prestigious awards ceremony later this year.

A ‘record-breaking’ 1456 entries have been received for this year’s Awards, with 223 projects and individuals reaching the final shortlist, making it the biggest awards programme in the award’s 43-year history. The high volume - and exceptional quality – of applications once again mirrors the impressive levels of innovation and care continually being developed within the UK’s healthcare networks.

Following the thorough judging process, GMMH was shortlisted, ahead of the official awards ceremony to be held later this year (November 16th), with brainHealth Manchester standing out as a real ‘success story’ worthy of a prized place on the panel’s shortlist.

brainHealth Manchester is a novel diagnostic and therapeutic pathway using advanced cognitive assessment, neuroimaging and fluid biomarkers to make disease specific diagnoses in people living with the mildest forms of cognitive impairment in order to:

1. Provide comprehensive risk assessments.

2. Provide a personalised risk reduction plan.

3. Provide a timely diagnosis of the diseases underlying dementia.

4. Reduce the barriers to participation in groundbreaking research.

Together with advanced age-standardised neuropsychological assessments, broad risk-factor assessment and personalised brain health reports, we have instituted Cerebrospinal Fluid (CSF) diagnostic testing within the mental health trust, modernising the diagnostic pathway for people with prodromal Alzheimer's Disease.

In collaboration with partners in Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, and the UK’s Brain Health Coalition led by Alzheimer’s Research UK, brainHealth Manchester aims to lead the development of a network of brain health clinics across UK mental health trusts.

Tessa Myatt, Medical Director at GMMH comments:

“This really is such exciting news! Our team’s dedication and hard work have led us to being shortlisted for Modernising Diagnostics in the HSJ Awards 2023. This recognition is even more significant considering the tough competition this year, with an unprecedented volume of entries from so many other equally deserving Trusts and individuals.

“Regardless of the outcome, reaching this stage makes us feel like winners. We’re immensely proud to share our success with colleagues throughout the sector, and to highlight the insights gained from our project implementation.”

HSJ editor Alastair McLellan, adds:

“It always gives me great pleasure to congratulate our finalists at this stage of the judging process and this year is no exception as we acknowledge GMMH for being shortlisted in the category of Modernising Diagnostics.

“It’s been so encouraging to hear that 2023 has been record-breaking in terms of the number of applicants and, as ever, the calibre of entries left our panel of expert judges with some tough decisions to deliberate over.

“However, it’s always important to remember that the HSJ Awards are not just a celebration of success stories but also a platform to shape the future of the NHS.

“We can’t wait to welcome our finalists to the awards ceremony in November and to recognise and applaud such impressive achievements across the sector – as well as coming together to help mark the 75th birthday of our great NHS. Huge thanks also go to our new headline partner, Vodafone, who share our mission of driving the standard of healthcare excellence and creating better patient experiences.”

The selected winners will be announced during the awards ceremony at Evolution London on November 16th, 2023.

The event will not only reflect the HSJ Awards’ enduring ethos of “sharing best practice, improving patient outcomes and innovating drivers of better service” but will also serve as a timely and well-deserved thank you to the sector during the 75th anniversary year of the NHS.

The 2023 awards judging panel was once again made up of a diverse range of highly influential and respected figures within the healthcare community, including; Crystal Oldman, Chief Executive, Queen’s Nursing Institute; Dr Habib Naqvi MBE, Chief Executive, NHS Race and Health Observatory; Anne-Marie Vine-Lott, Director of Health, Vodafone; Sir Jim Mackey, National Director of Elective Recovery, NHS England, as well as a range of esteemed Chief Executives from NHS Trusts across the UK.

HSJ Awards 2023 - We are proud to be shortlisted - Modernising Diagnostics Award

The full list of nominees for the 2023 HSJ awards can be found at https://awards.hsj.co.uk/ alongside details of the Awards partners at https://awards.hsj.co.uk/partners.

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