A project from Oxford has been shortlisted for the final of the national Health and Social Care Awards (HSCAs) for its innovative approach to improving care and access to services in the area.

Now in their seventh year, the Awards, run by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement and the Department of Health, are designed to showcase best practice from the frontline. The successful Oxford entry was selected from a total of 2,500 applications received from across 10 regions and the team will now compete for the chance to become a national winner.

The project, shortlisted for the ‘NHS Live’ award, saw Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust and University of Oxford Department of Psychiatry, work together to come up with a text messaging system for people with bipolar disorder, which enables them to monitor their own condition and keep GPs up-to-date with how they are feeling.

The national winners will be announced at a ceremony held in London on Tuesday 1 July. The ceremony follows an NHS Live event, which will bring together staff from across the NHS to share their ideas, and include speeches from Lord Darzi and Don Berwick, President and CEO for the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, who will give an international viewpoint on the NHS.

Commenting on the success of the Oxford team, Bernard Crump, Chief Executive of the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement said: “The Health and Social Care Awards are an important way to share break-through local ideas on a national level. There is some really innovative and inspiring work being done on the frontline, and these shortlisted projects are just the tip of the iceberg.”

“What they show is what’s possible when people work together – be it doctors, nurses, patients, social care professionals or local government. This collaborative approach will be critical in driving forward the NHS over the next 60 years