Healthcare Inequalities Hero 2025 award announced

Published: 04 Jun 2025

The winners of the Clinical Audit Awareness Week 2025 Healthcare Inequalities Hero award have been announced! Congratulations to:

WINNER: Inpatient Nicotine Replacement Therapy QI Project (Nicotine Replacement Therapy QI Team); St Richard’s Hospital, University Hospitals Sussex

Smoking is the single biggest cause of preventable morbidity, mortality and health inequalities in the UK. Guidelines state that inpatients should receive timely Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) to prevent withdrawal symptoms, but feedback and baseline audits revealed a need for improvement. Having generated a driver diagram, the team ran a series of mini ‘Plan, Do, Study, Act’ cycles, including: mandatory electronic documentation of smoking status on admission; a simple, high-dose NRT protocol to facilitate prescribing; and increasing the availability of NRT products on wards. Data demonstrated a 50% increase in the delivery of NRT and, as such, the project is now being used as a model quality improvement.

RUNNER-UP: Families in Mind – Supporting parents in the transition to parenthood (Charlotte Gatehouse); Hampshire and Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust

This is an innovative integrated specialist health visiting service that delivers evidence based 1:1 and group-based interventions to families who are expecting a baby or have a child under 5 – with the aim of providing improved support to families in the transition to parenthood, and improving parental emotional wellbeing, parenting confidence and early relationships. The team deliver three strands of work: direct services to families, training and support for professionals and collaboration and engagement with the community and wider system.

Clinical Audit Heroes awards

This award is one of seven categories in this year’s Clinical Audit Heroes Awards. The winners of each main category award are announced at a series of daily Lunch & Learn events, hosted by N-QI-CAN, on each of the award topics from 2-6 June 2025; while two new commendation awards are announced at an event on Friday 6th June.

REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED FOR ALL EVENTS – Details of these events (and recordings for those who wish to listen again, once they have taken place) – in addition to news of all the winners and a range of other events and activities – can be found on the Clinical Audit Awareness Week webpage. Highlights include:

  • Wed 4 June, 1.45–2.30pm: Webinar and Q&A – Better cardiovascular care through data Register here
  • Thurs 5 June, 2.15–3.00pm: Webinar – Data-Driven Improvements in Maternity Care: A Regional Medical Director’s Perspective Register here

Further information about the awards: Clinical Audit Heroes awards.

Clinical Audit Awareness Week

In addition to the award announcements and the above events (at which the award announcements are made), there is a packed agenda of FREE events, activities and resources across the week of 2-6 June 2025. Find out more: Clinical Audit Awareness Week.

Don’t miss out!

To find out about all award winners, resources and events relating to #CAAW25, subscribe to HQIP’s mailing list (you will normally receive two emails per month).

You can also follow HQIP on X, and on LinkedIn, where information will be posted daily from 2-6 June (look out for and use #CAAW25).

And don’t forget to join in the fun by sharing online, using #CAAW25!

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