A group of staff from the emergency department at Heartlands Hospital have been honoured in parliament as part of a special, one-off competition to mark the NHS’s 70th birthday.

The NHS70 Parliamentary Awards, sponsored by IBM and Teva, were launched in February to recognise the massive contribution made by the individuals who work in and alongside the NHS.

MPs in England were asked to nominate individuals and teams serving their constituents across ten categories. Regional champions were selected in May, with the national winners chosen by a panel of senior leaders representing staff and patients.

Having been nominated by Jess Phillips MP in the Urgent and Emergency Care category for improving outcomes for older patients who sustain traumatic injuries, the HECTOR (Heartlands Elderly Care, Trauma and Ongoing Recovery) Project was named Regional Champion in May, and then took home the national award at a ceremony in Parliament on Wednesday 4 July 2017.

Judge Dr Jeeves Wijesuriya, chair of the Junior Doctors Committee at the BMA, gave the team their award. He said: “The team behind the HECTOR project have taken an issue increasingly affecting every Emergency Department across the country, and responded with a service which both displays compassion and understanding of the needs of elderly and frail patients, and frees up colleagues and resources to focus on other patients needing emergency help. This award is an important recognition of their success, and I was delighted to be able to present it to them.”

Dr Raven said: “We are incredibly proud to have won this award, especially when there are so many other strong contenders in the Emergency and Urgent Care category. HECTOR has always been about patient-centred care and changing our perspectives of what constitutes major trauma in an ageing population, so to be recognised nationally for this, is an amazing achievement for the whole team.”

The HECTOR team, who are based in the emergency department at Heartlands Hospital, have changed the way emergency department staff are trained, and shown that the care delivered on wards has had a positive impact on individual patient outcomes, helping to get people back to their own homes safely.

Dame Julie Moore, Chief Executive of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Congratulations to the HECTOR team on winning the Urgent and Emergency Care NHS70 Parliamentary Award. Their work is invaluable and we hope that their excellent practice will continue to be shared elsewhere for the benefit of older patients in all emergency departments.”

They were among the ten winners – selected from more than 750 nominations submitted by over 250 MPs – to receive their awards at a ceremony on the Palace of Westminster’s Terrace Pavilion, hosted by Dr Sara Kayat, NHS GP & TV Doctor. Health Select Committee Chair Dr Sarah Wollaston MP, Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt MP, and the panel of judges collectively representing millions of NHS staff and patients were also on hand to pay tribute to the winners and all those shortlisted.

Wider celebrations to mark the NHS’s big birthday will include thousands of NHS Big 7Tea parties to raise money for NHS charities, whilst dozens of landmark buildings will light up blue, including York Minster, the Blackpool Tower, the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, the London Eye and Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The BT Tower will also run a special birthday message on its iconic infoband.