Bernard Kelly, Helen Webb and Tom Magill celebrate reaching the finals of the NHS Leadership Recognition Awards. Bernard and Helen were recognised for their work in helping set up an HIV patient-led forum, while Tom developed a real-time survey system to help senior nurses deliver better care.

The HIV forum, which meets four times a year, represents the interests of more than 1,600 patients living with HIV who receive treatment and support via St George’s Hospital. Some of its members are also involved in regular monthly meetings with senior staff advising ensuring open two way dialogue on the service.

Dr Pakianathan said: “Something we all do at one time or another is make assumptions about what we think other people know and want. The patient forum has helped us focus on what really matters to our patients and respond quickly. Patients have been surprisingly understanding about the pressures we face as a department and offered some good insights into improving our day-to-day working practices.

Tom Magill’s survey system has been acknowledged as a model of good practice by NHS England and adopted by several other NHS trusts.

Notes to editors

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About St George’s Healthcare NHS Trust

  • St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is one of the largest healthcare providers in the UK. Its main site, St George’s Hospital in Tooting – one of the country’s principal teaching hospitals – is shared with St George’s, University of London, which trains medical students and carries out advanced medical research. As well as acute hospital services, the trust provides a wide variety of specialist and community hospital based care and a full range of community services to children, adults, older people and people with learning disabilities. These services are provided from Queen Mary’s Hospital, Roehampton, 11 health centres and clinics, schools and nurseries, patients’ homes and Wandsworth Prison.
  • St George’s Hospital, Tooting, is home to one of four major trauma centres, one of eight hyper acute stroke units and one of the biggest and busiest of the seven heart attack centres in the capital.
  • The trust is an accredited centre of excellence for trauma, neurology, cardiology, cancer and blood pressure services and is the national centre for family HIV care and bone marrow transplantation for non-cancer diseases.
  • In 2012 the trust was named by the Dr Foster report for the Department of Health in the group of trusts with the lowest mortality rates in the country. The trust was one of only 16 in the country to have statistically significant lower than expected mortality rates.