Healthier Lancashire and South Cumbria and partners have been honoured at the NHS in the North Excellence in Supply Awards.

Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care System, along with Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (formerly Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust), and North West Shared Infrastructure Services (NWSIS) Preston won the award for NHS procurement innovation.

The partnership were awarded for their close collaboration through a ‘community of interest network’. Using a digital local area network the organisations have enabled better transfer of NHS data and patient records, improving the patient experience and increasing the efficiency of local health and care systems.

ICS operational digital lead Andrew Thompson said: “What a fantastic project. The collaboration between the Lancashire and South Cumbria stakeholders was amazing throughout the whole procurement. The outcome will provide not only massive financial savings for the region but a future proofed network for the next five years.”

The awards, hosted by the NHS Northern Customer Board and the Innovation Agency, celebrate the work of businesses, third sector organisations and the NHS in collaborating to deliver great patient care.

Stephen McGarry, Head of Procurement at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust, said: “I’m very happy indeed. It’s nice to have your peers recognise the effort and endeavour you put in. We’ve collaborated to make something that’s actually changed the landscape. This is a collaboration between the NHS and wider public sector bodies, and includes sites from Lancashire Fire and Rescue and Lancashire County Council on the same network as NHS services, clinics, GP practices and hospitals. We’ve put something in place that connects around 400 sites on a secure network and achieved around 60 per cent in savings.”

Dr Liz Mear, Chief Executive of the Innovation Agency, said: “All the award winners deserve huge congratulations. At their heart, these awards showcase some fantastic collaborations between NHS organisations and their partners that ensure improved patient care.”

Our Digital Future

Find out more about plans for digital health across Lancashire and South Cumbria in the Our Digital Future section of the website.