CAAW26 Equity and Patient Involvement award winners announced

23 Jun 2026

We are delighted to share that the winners of the Equity and Patient Involvement category of the Excellence in Clinical Audit Awards 2026, which are part of Clinical Audit Awareness Week, have been announced!

This award recognises This award recognises clinical audits and evidence-informed improvement projects that put patients at the centre of care, by effectively engaging them, carers and communities, and/or helping to address healthcare inequalities. Many congratulations to:

WINNER: Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) Link Worker Team, West London NHS Trust

CAMHS Link Worker Team - Equity & patient involvement & communication commendation winner

Reaching the Unreached: Transforming Child Mental Health Access in Diverse Communities is a data-informed quality improvement approach to building trust, awareness, and culturally responsive engagement. It combines clinical audit principles, community insight, and co-production to address inequities in access to mental health services; and saw referrals from underrepresented communities increase by 30% overall, with peaks reaching 84% above baseline.

JOINT RUNNER-UP: National Paediatric Diabetes Audit (NPDA), Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH)

The NPDA’s Youth Voice Communications Project was developed to improve how national audit findings are communicated to children and young people living with diabetes. It demonstrates how patient involvement can strengthen the impact of audits by ensuring that findings are not only reported to services, but also communicated in ways that are meaningful and empowering for the people whose care they reflect.

JOINT RUNNER-UP: Dr Hemavathy Palanyiaya and Danielle Ashley, Community Paediatric Team, Mary Sheridan Centre, Evelina Children’s Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

Dr Hemavathy Palanyiaya & Danielle Ashley

From Fragmentation to Integration is a multi-component quality improvement programme that addresses health inequalities for young people with complex physical and learning disabilities who are transitioning to adult services. By delivering safer, more coordinated and equitable transitions, it improves lifelong health trajectories. Participants recorded improved preparedness for adulthood (97%), high satisfaction (100%), and stronger engagement with primary care overall, with estimated savings exceeding £500k annually.

JOINT RUNNER-UP: Dr Claire Stewart, Community Paediatric Team, Mary Sheridan Centre, Evelina Children’s Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust

My Voice Matters is a multi-agency quality improvement initiative addressing a critical inequity in safeguarding, namely children’s inability to fully participate in child protection medical assessments due to reliance on verbal communication. With a co-produced toolkit, this intervention enables children to tell, draw or show their experiences using images, symbols and choice-led interaction; delivering measurable improvements in both patient experience and safeguarding outcomes.

Who are the other winners?

This award is one of five main, and two additional commendation, categories in this year’s Excellence in Clinical Audit Awards. The winners are announced at a series of daily online events from 22-26 June 2026, which are run alongside a series of themed webinars, aligned to the award categories.

Register NOW: Find out more about, and register for, HQIP’s free online events, to find out about all the winners of the Excellence in Clinical Audit Awards and hear more about the Clinical Audit Awareness Week topics:

Tuesday 23 June, 2-3pm: Patient Involvement and Care Equity: Maternity and Healthcare Inequalities (afternoon webinar) REGISTER HERE
Wednesday 24 June, 10am-12pm: Shaping the Future Together – featuring Sir James Mackey, Chief Executive, NHS England REGISTER HERE
Wednesday 24 June, 12.45-1.30pm: Lunchtime Sharing Session – with Innovation award announcement REGISTER HERE
Thursday 25 June, 10.30am-12pm: Patient Safety REGISTER HERE
Thursday 25 June, 12.45-1.30pm: Lunchtime Sharing Session – with Patient Safety award announcement REGISTER HERE
Friday 26 June, 10am-12pm: Data-Informed Improvement (morning webinar) REGISTER HERE
Friday 26 June, 1-3pm: Data-Informed Improvement (afternoon webinar) – with Evidence into Practice award announcement REGISTER HERE.

All award winners announced so far can be found here: Excellence in Clinical Audit Awards.

Clinical Audit Awareness Week 2026

A week-long national campaign that aims to improve and save lives by promoting and celebrating the critical role of clinical audit and data-driven healthcare improvement. Join in the fun by sharing online, using #CAAW26!

Find out more: Clinical Audit Awareness Week 2026