Audit Heroes Awards – 2019

We are delighted to reveal our Audit Heroes for 2019! This year we received a staggering 168 nominations. The range and calibre of the nominations was greater than ever but our judging panel have managed to select worthy winners across local and national audit.

There are 5 awards categories and each category is divided into two sections – local and national; during CAAW we will be revealing the winners of one category each day. This is our schedule for announcing the winners:

  • Monday 25 Nov – Clinical Audit Professional of the Year
  • Tuesday 26 Nov – Student of the Year
  • Wednesday 27 Nov – Volunteer of the Year
  • Thursday 28 Nov – Clinical Practitioner of the Year
  • Friday 29 Nov – Team of the Year

Everyone who was nominated as an Audit Hero will feature in our online Hall of Fame over the coming weeks.


Clinical Audit Professional of the Year

Colin BarnesJoint local winner

Colin Barnes – Quality Improvement and Clinical Effectiveness Manager

Solent NHS

Judges felt Colin made a big impact in a short space of time, creating structure and using creative and innovative methods to make audit more engaging and accessible. The nomination also highlighted his commitment to involving patients in audit.

Joint local winner
Sarah Cutler

Sarah Cutler – Clinical Audit & Compliance Facilitator

Coventry & Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust

Judges felt Sarah is a strong local champion for clinical audit. The nomination highlighted her tenacity, her support of colleagues and her creativity in presenting findings in a digestible and engaging format that has been adopted across the Trust. Her efforts have increased compliance across the organisation.


Linda Chadburn
Joint national winner

Linda Chadburn – Clinical Effectiveness & Quality Improvement Lead

Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust

Linda holds an advisory role for the Royal College of Psychiatry and is a member of the steering groups for the National Clinical Audit of Anxiety and Depression (NCAAD) and the National Clinical Audit of Psychosis (NCAP). Judges felts Linda makes a real difference as a champion of parity of esteem in mental health audits, helping to overcome barriers.

Joint national winnerWendy Harlow

Wendy Harlow – Head of Clinical Audit

Sussex Partnership NHS Foundation Trust

Wendy is a member of the National Clinical Audit of Anxiety and Depression Steering Committee. Judges felt that Wendy’s nomination demonstrates that she greatly supports and optimises national audit, innovating around audit delivery and providing valuable constructive feedback.


Student of the Year

Sophie CorbettLocal winner

Sophie Corbett – Medical Student

University of Dundee

Judges were impressed with the meaningful engagement with patients, demonstrating a passion for wanting patients to be informed and for their feedback to lead to change.

Highly commended

Ankur Chopra and Derrick Wayne Smith

Ankur Chopra and Derrick Wayne Smith – Medical Students

American University of the Caribbean

Currently doing clinical rotations at Epsom and St. Helier University Hospitals and have a special interest in clinical processes of the NHS system. Have undertaken audits leading directly to improvements in processes relating to patients with cognitive impairment.


Volunteer of the Year

Bryan RowlandsLocal winner

Bryan Rowlands – Community Health Voice Representative

Midlands Partnership Foundation Trust

Judges felt that Bryan’s background role is of great value in ensuring that the audits undertaken have outcomes that are achievable and implemented. They were also impressed that he not only reviews but challenges trust audit reports.

National winner

Ngawai Moss

Ngawai Moss – Member of the National Maternity and Perinatal Audit (NMPA) Women and Families Involvement Group and Chair of the NMPA Clinical Reference Group

Judges were impressed by Ngawai’s influential leadership role within national audit. They felt the nomination demonstrates long term commitment in a range of roles and involving communities which might otherwise be disengaged.


Clinical practitioner of the Year

Sankara NarayananLocal winner

Dr Sankara Narayanan – Consultant Neonatologist

West Hertfordshire NHS Trust

The nomination impressed judges for the volume of improvement and the evident passion to improve services. Hailed by his peers as a role model for his selfless drive despite operational pressures. Received four separate nominations.

National winner
Scott Deacon

Scott Deacon – Clinical Project Lead for the Cleft Registry and Audit NEtwork (CRANE) Database (based at the Royal College of Surgeons)

The nomination highlighted the expansion of the CRANE; the championing of the value of participation and engagement; the linkage of the CRANE database with Hospital Episode Statistics (HES) and the National Pupil Database (NPD) to explore the wider impact of having a cleft; and involvement in production of  national guidelines.


Team of the Year

XPERT HealthWinner

X-PERT Health

The nomination for this education charity related to group-based structured education sessions – that meet national criteria – which were co-designed and evaluated with patients in response for requests to support better self-management of diabetes. Robust evaluation of the six-session programme was then undertaken in a clinical trial, which demonstrated significant improvements to patient health and quality of life. This nomination demonstrated high levels of patient engagement and co-design as well as evidence-based systemic change.

Highly commended

Plastic Surgery Department, The Lister Hospital, Stevenage

This multidisciplinary team worked together to achieve a significant and sustainable improvement in the inpatient and outpatient patient pathway, patient care and outcomes for patients with lower limb skin tears across the period 2017-2019.
The data collected examined all aspects of the inpatient pathway, from admission to surgical management, to discharge. Information was also gathered regarding the initial patient clerking and management, incorporating NICE guidance on management and investigation of falls. The team also investigated post-admission 90-day mortality in light of the vulnerability of this patient group. Judges were impressed that the experience of one patient prompted what was to become wide-ranging systemic change involving acute and community services and incorporating a vast array of specialties.