30 August 2023
The Best Practice Awards 2024 have just opened, showcasing excellence and innovation in rheumatology that delivers enhanced patient care. We caught up with with BSR President Jo Ledingham, and one of our esteemed BPA Judges, to hear more about what makes for a successful entry.
Why are the Best Practice Awards so important?
Improving quality of care that we provide for our patients has always been a passion of mine, so for me this is one of the most important awards that BSR give out and I'm hugely supportive of it. It's a great way for whole departments, who have been involved in working towards service improvements, to get recognition.
What are the criteria for entry?
We want to hear about projects that have significantly improved the quality of care and service delivery for patients, projects that are also cost effective, have great patient involvement, and we also want it to be something (in an ideal world), that other's can take and run with - in other words: transferable.
What are you looking forward to as a judge?
As a judge I will see the work that everyone's been doing and I can see the potential benefits to me as an individual and what I can bring to my department, but also what I can hopefully share more widely right across the rheumatology community through my presidential work.
Why should members consider entering?
It's huge validation of the great work you've done, and national recognition for work you've done, that's a huge morale boost for everyone within the department - even for those who may not have felt they've been directly involved. Having received one of these awards in the past, I'm so aware of how much it can boost people's morale and how important that is right now in particular. There are benefits for individuals to; these awards are hugely helpful for your appraisal, revalidation, and as a trainee - for your portfolio. But recognition for a whole department is definitely one of the big positives of the awards.
Do you have any top tips?
The key thing is for everyone to go away and think about they've done, take an early look at the criteria the assessors will be looking at and think about what can be transferable to other units - those are where I'd focus any application. Also highlighting how you've involved patients in the delivery of your change would be really important to emphasise as well, there's a special patient choice award this year. So, like any application process: look at what the assessors have asked for, but give us a showcase of what you've achieved and how you got there.
Do you have any other words of encouragement?
This is something that if you can dedicate a bit of time to putting in an application and going through this process, the rewards are huge. I really hope that people will take those few minutes to step back have and think about what they have done in the last year or two, if there is something they can potentially put forward as a proposal please do so. I really want to hear what people are doing out there and how we can potentially share that for the better, for everyone working in rheumatology.
If you apply and aren't successful, that shouldn't be seen as a negative. This is all a positive experience; if you've got to a point of doing something good that is worthy to be put forward for an award, that in itself is worth being applauded.