Would you like to recognise and celebrate someone who works with people affected by, or at risk of developing cardiovascular disease (CVD)?Have they made an exceptional contribution topatient care, prevention of disease and survival from sudden cardiovascular events?

If so then nominate NOW for a British Heart Foundation (BHF)Alliance Award.

The nominations are now open for all five prestigious award categories and the closing date for entries is Monday 9 February 2015. For each category the winner and highly commended awards will be chosen by a panel of expert judges and presented at the BHF/BCS Conference Awards Dinner, on Tuesday 9 June 2015.

The awards which celebrate high-quality services and care are open to members of the BHF Alliancewho champion the BHF’s values and support our mission to win the fight against cardiovascular disease.

Alliance members are inspirational leaders, rising stars and everyday heroes whodemonstrate bravery by challenging poor practice and are driven to deliver the best care and support they can.They are alwaysinformedand use evidence to supportthe development and delivery of better services, that improve patient experience and outcomes; they show compassion by putting people at the heart of what they do and continually seeking to improve the care and support they provide. All nominations should demonstrate how the nominated individual or team demonstrates the BHF values of Brave, Informed, Compassionate and Driven in their own way.

Awards Categories and Criteria

Please read the below criteria carefully and refer to the individual requirements for each award when completing the nomination form.

Rising Star

This award recognises an Alliance member who has demonstrated excellence, leadership and passion in a career spanning fewer than 10 years; supporting people living with or at risk of CVD.

Nominations should include one or more of the following elements:

  • How the nominee has gone above and beyond the expectations of their role and overcome challenges to help improve services for those at risk of or affected by CVD
  • Provide at least one clear example of a project or programme they’ve led on, or played a significant role within, that has improved outcomes for patients, clearly explaining their role in this project. Ideally this should demonstrate their leadership skills and willingness or ability to innovate
  • How the nominee naturally regards patients as partners in co-producing health and wellbeing and sets an example of this
  • Summarise how the BHF support has helped them in their role
  • A reference of no more than 100 words from a patient who feels the candidate has made a difference to their life. The patient must be happy to be named and identified in awards materials and media work.

Team of the Year

This award recognises that delivering high quality care is a team effort, involving collaboration between colleagues. Have you and your team made a difference over the last year? Are you proud of your team and the work you do?

A team can be any group of people who work together to provide a service and must include at least one Alliance member. The team could be multidisciplinary,or indeed a collaborative from more than one organisation, orcould all work in the same discipline but must include a mixed skill set.

Nominations should include one or more of the following elements:

  • How the nominated team has gone above and beyond the expectations of their remit and overcome challenges to help improve services for those at risk of or affected by CVD.
  • Teams that have developed their roles, relationships and processes to ensure high-quality and efficient service delivery is provided for those at risk of or affected by CVD.
  • A demonstration of the input of different team members and/or collaboration with other specialities, professions and/or services.
  • They must also be able to demonstrate the benefits and outcomes that their teamwork contributes to providing high quality patient care and service delivery.
  • Demonstrate how those at risk of or affected by CVD are influence and are engaged with by this team (eg peer support group members acknowledged as experts by experience).

BHF Champion

This award recognises BHF Alliance members who demonstrate a high level of commitment to the BHF, this person will be passionate about BHF, fully engaged in BHF activity and promote BHF at work and at home.

Nominations should include one or more of the following elements:

  • How the nominee has gone above and beyond the expectations of their role and overcome challenges to help improve services for those at risk of or affected by CVD.
  • Has promoted, delivered or supported BHF services andresources.
  • Actively supports BHF fundraising, events, campaigns or initiatives in their region e.g. Bagathon, No Smoking day or Heart Month.
  • Has appeared in or helped shape BHF national campaigns.
  • Has represented the BHF at conferences/events on a regional or national scale or has had work published in the trade press in their capacity as a BHF Alliance Healthcare Practitioner.
  • Is proud to be part of the BHF and influences others (colleagues/patients and or the wider general public) to actively engage with the BHF.

Integrated Care

This award recognises an individual or team (at least one team member should be a member of the BHF Alliance) in the NHS and from any care setting who have developed integrated services to improve the experiences of those affected by, or at risk of developing CVD. Entrants must have undertaken an initiative that has demonstrably improved the integration and accessibility of person centred care for people with cardiovascular conditions.

Nominations should include one or more of the following elements:

  • How the nominee has gone above and beyond the expectations of their roleand overcome challenges to help improve services for those at risk of or affected by CVD.
  • Coordinates service provision in a way that delivers seamless care for patients and their carers.
  • Delivery of new multi-disciplinary teams and roles to facilitate greater care coordination.
  • Care pathway re-design and implementation.
  • Coordination of multiple components of care via a single case manager.
  • Holistic care assessments, care planning and single point of entry.
  • Identifies and plans care for patients at risk of hospitalisation from a range of comorbidities.
  • Delivers care that addresses both health and social care for patients and carers.
  • Peer support as part of the service (eg, peer support groups undertaking ward visits, befriending schemes, peer-led training in self-help and secondary prevention, peers helping patients return to normal life, peer-led practical help for carers, socialising to combat isolation, etc).
  • Workforce Development – up-skills healthcare practitioners to deliver more integrated models of care.

Leadership and Engagement

The Leadership and Engagement award seeks to recognise Alliance members who work with people affected by, or at risk of developing CVD, at any stage of their careers.

Nominations should include one or more of the following elements:

  • How the nominee has gone above and beyond the expectations of their role and overcome challenges to help improve services for those at risk of or affected by CVD.
  • Leadership for service improvement in their everyday values and behaviours and in their drive for patient focused value -based outcomes.
  • Courage, resilience, a strong ability to listen, engage and influence others to transform services and to consistently deliver at a high level.
  • How they have been proactive in setting up peer support groups, seeking them out, stimulating their development, advocating for the benefits of peer support with colleagues.

How to Apply

Who can enter?

Awards categories are open to all BHF Alliance members. If a team is applying or being nominated for the Team Award or the Integrated Care Award,then one member should be an Alliance member.

Who can nominate?

Entrants can nominate themselves or be nominated by a colleague, line manager, BHF staff member or a person affected by, or at risk of developing CVD or their carer.

How do you nominate?

All nominators must complete the nomination form including a statement of no more than 500 words providing evidence of why the nominee should receive the award and referring to the individual award criteria.

If the application is sent by the nominee themselves, the application should also be supported by a statement of no more than 300 words from a colleague or line manager which supports the evidence provided by the nominee.

What should the nomination include?

Statements can be supported by up to 3 pieces of evidence where relevant to support the application, this could include; letters from patients or their families or the public, information on the success of their work with supporting evaluation or other award success. Please include supportive statements within your nomination statement or attach them separately – please ensure you anonymise any patient data. Your application must demonstrate how the nominee/s reflect the values of the BHFand the individual award criteria (above).

How will the awards be judged?

All applications will be judged by a panel of experts chosen for their knowledge and experience.The panel are required to declare all conflicts of interest.The decision of the panel is final.

When’s the deadline for nomination?

All applications must be received by 5pm on Monday 9 February 2015. Shortlisted nominees will be notified by Friday 3 April 2015. Please return the completed nomination forms to .

When will award winners be announced?

The Awards will be presented to the winners at the BHF/BCS Conference Awards Dinner on Tuesday 9June 2015. If you are unable to attend the awards dinner you are still eligible to be nominated.

Nomination Form

Please read the above criteria carefully and refer to the individual requirements for each award when completing the nomination form.

Award nominee details
Please note: The nominee must be a BHF Alliance member. For the team of the year award please provide the details of the key contact or lead in that team.
Title:
Full Name:
Job Title:
Organisation:
Phone:
Email:
Nominator details
Title:
Full Name:
Relationship to nominee:
How long have you known the nominee?
Is the nominee aware of the nomination?
Are you a BHF Alliance member?
Address:
Phone:
Email:
Please indicate the category of award nomination
Complete a separate nomination form if the same professional or team is being nominated for more than one category
Rising Star / ☐ /
Team of the Year / ☐ /
BHF Champion / ☐ /
Integrated Care / ☐ /
Leadership & Engagement / ☐ /
Supporting statement – to be completed by the nominator or the self-nominee
Tell us in 500 words or less why you think the nominee should win this award. You must include examples and evidence of how the nominee meets the points stated in the criteria (above).
Nomination endorsement - for self-nominating candidates only
This information should be supplied the supporter/endorser of a self-nominating candidate confirming that they approve and support the nomination. This must be a healthcare professional or line manager.
Title:
Name:
Job Title:
Relationship to nominee:
How long have you known the nominee?
Is the nominee aware of the nomination?
Address:
Phone:
Email:
Nomination endorsement - for self-nominating candidates only
If the applicant is self-nominating a supporting statement of no more than 300 words from a colleague is also required. This must be filled out by a healthcare professional or line manager. Please tell us why the nominee should win this award and include examples and evidence of how the nominee meets the criteria and goes over and above the expectations of their role (please refer to the criteria above).

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