Cardiff and Vale University Health Board was recently highly commended at the NHS Confederation and AHSN Network’s Innovate Awards in the Innovative Health System of the Year Category for its Dragon’s Heart Institute programme of work.
The Innovate Awards are a collaboration between the AHSN Network, which operates as the innovation arm of the NHS in England and acts as the collective voice of the 15 academic health science networks (AHSNs); and NHS Confederation, the membership body, representing healthcare in the UK.
The new Innovate Awards celebrate excellence in innovation in health and care, showcasing those teams, organisations and health and care systems leading the way in positive change. The inaugural ceremony was held in London on the 29th September, 2022.
The awards were judged by a diverse group of experts working across the health and care sector. The judges were really impressed with the standard of entries in the awards with around 200 entries competing across ten categories.
The Innovative Health System of the Year category in which the Dragon’s Heart Institute was shortlisted recognises health and care systems where a culture of innovation is the bedrock of how things are delivered, celebrating organisations with the culture, capability and track record of adopting and spreading innovation at scale.
Cardiff and Vale UHB was highly commended in this category for its work associated with the Dragon’s Heart Institute which was developed following the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic to spearhead innovation, develop future leaders, and to act as a catalyst for change across public services to improve the outcomes for citizens in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales and beyond.
Since its establishment the Dragon’s Heart Institute has designed and delivered its 10-month flagship leadership programme, Climb, and worked with the US-based Billions Institute to deliver the Spread and Scale Academy multiple times across the UK. The DHI has also worked to secure over £1 million of challenge funding for innovative projects within Cardiff and Vale UHB.
Jonathon Gray, Director of Innovation and Improvement at Cardiff and Vale UHB and lead for the Dragon’s Heart Institute, said, “I’m delighted that Cardiff and Vale UHB has been recognised at these prestigious national awards for its innovative work through the Dragon’s Heart Institute. We are very proud of what we have been able to achieve in the short time since the Institute was established and this award reflects the hard work of a small team of people who tirelessly look for new ways of doing things and are equipping our brilliant future leaders with the tools and skills they’ll need when called up on again to face the next COVID-like challenge.”
