Creative teams which make up the Digital Innovation Unit working across two Black Country NHS Trusts have been voted winners in the HSJ Digital Awards 2025.
The awards recognise outstanding achievements in harnessing digital technology and the unit, which supports The Royal Wolverhampton and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trusts, has been recognised for its work to transform end-of-life care for patients.
Staff developed the Proactive Risk-Based Data-Driven Assessment of Patients at End of Life initiative (PRADA) to address the critical inefficiencies in this type of care, particularly the inconsistent registration of patients on to the Gold Standard Framework, an evidence-based service improvement programme.
The digital tool aimed to drive earlier intervention, avoid disjointed multiple sources of information and house all vital patient details in one place, while ensuring patients are able to access the most appropriate services.
It was co-designed and created by the Digital Innovation Unit, Specialist Palliative Care Team, Adult Community Service Group and GP representation. This has ensured all potential aspects of a patient’s journey have been looked at to assure inclusion and integrated ways of working. And it was given a £126,420 funding boost thanks to Your RWTC, The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust’s Charity.
Alvina Nisbett, Group Director of Digital Innovation at the Trusts, said: “End-of-life-care is such a challenging and difficult area of healthcare which has a significant impact on patients and their families if processes and pathways don’t work well.
“Patients are often supported by a variety of services – hospital and community – and we wanted to look at ways in which to make this as smooth a transition as possible. Our teams have been brave in their approach and I have to give credit to them for all their hard work and perseverance.
“This national recognition only serves as a nod to our credibility and leadership in the Digital Innovation and Digital Transformation arena.”
Professor Baldev Singh, who developed and leads this programme of care, added that any improvement and innovation around such an important area had to be handled sensitively, as around 30 per cent of patients in hospital are in their last year of life. Since COVID-19 more patients have shared their wishes to die at home, rather than in hospital.
“PRADA has drawn on colleagues’ expertise around supporting end-of-life patients and how digitised care can bring about meaningful improvements,” he said.
“We feel we have developed a groundbreaking tool to address the challenges of late identification and the fragmented response that often follows in such circumstances.
“We are proud to have won this prestigious award and it energises us to build on our collective commitment to continue making improvements for our patients and their families.
“The team is also grateful to Your RWTC for its invaluable funding support for this work”.