Our Trust partnership with Bright Horizons shortlisted for the HSJ Partnership Awards 2022

We are very pleased to announce that our Trust, partnered with Bright Horizons, has now been shortlisted for the Workforce and Wellbeing Initiative of the Year Award at the HSJ Partnership Awards 2022. Our shortlisted project is for a staff health and wellbeing programme, providing support for staff in managing work and family commitments. 

We are one of the top performing hospital trusts in the UK, and we have a dedicated programme to promote wellness across all areas of our organisation. Back-Up Care, in partnership with Bright Horizons, is part of that. The Back-Up Care programme provides staff with alternative care options should their regular care arrangements break down. It enables us to improve staff retention and support our working parents and carers in achieving a work-life balance – which ultimately improves patient care. 

Karen Adewoyin, Deputy Director, People & OD at our Trust, said: "We are delighted to be nominated for this prestigious award, it is a great honour and recognition for our team, who’ve worked hard to provide the services to support staff wellbeing and back-up-care from Bright Horizons. Supporting our staff enables them to focus on the care for our patients, which is at the heart of everything that we do. This has never been more important than during these challenging times for the NHS.

"The Bright Horizons service is very popular with our staff and its adoption has exceeded expectations. It has helped us save over 600 days of work and helps our staff to balance their work and family life. We want to continue to be a family friendly employer and we strongly believe in providing support in this way which ultimately helps us to keep delivering excellent patient care."

The Work+Family Space platform and Back-Up Care programme is universally available to all our 6,000+ staff members. All these staff members have been auto-enrolled onto the Work+Family Space platform, giving them direct access to the user guides, speak-to-an expert service, webinars, and Back-Up Care provision. Auto-enrolment also allows our Trust and Bright Horizons to promote the Work+Family support directly to our staff, to maximise visibility and potential take-up of the benefit. 

A clinician from our Trust said: "I was able to book emergency childcare with short notice, allowing me to come to work to fulfil my duties. The service made me feel looked after and valued by the Trust."

Denise Priest, Director of Employer and Strategic Partnerships at Bright Horizons, said: "It’s been a privilege to work with and support Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust on this project, and we’re thrilled that it’s been shortlisted for this award. Organisations are increasingly recognising that providing practical support for the health and wellbeing of staff as they seek to juggle their work life balance brings benefits for both the staff and organisations."

Over 190 entries were received for the HSJ Partnership Awards. The judging panel was once again made up of a diverse range of highly influential and respected figures within the healthcare community, including:

• Dr Matt Aiello (National Programmes Lead, Education Reform, Health Education England)
• Dr Elena Bechberger (National Programme Director – LVHC Programme, NHS England and NHS Improvement)
• Claire Igoe (Head of Environmental Sustainability – Manchester University FT)
• Vinice Thomas (Director of Nursing and Quality, NHS England and NHS Improvement)

The selected winners will be announced during the awards ceremony at Westminster Park Plaza, London on Thursday 24 March 2022. 

• Find out more about the project