As 2025 comes to a close, we’re delighted to recognise the achievements of our NHS colleagues with the sixth annual Consultant Connect Awards.
As well as the glory of victory, all winners receive a donation to a charity of their choice. There are two categories:
- Special Achievement
- Best Overall Projects – click here to find out the winners
Special Achievement 2025
And the winners are:
WINNER for Urgent Care:
South East London ICB
We are delighted to announce South East London (SEL) ICB as this year’s winner of the ‘Urgent Care’ Award in recognition of their innovation and impact within the urgent care space. This year marked the successful rollout of Urgent Community Response (UCR) services across all six SEL boroughs. More than 3,000 calls have been answered through the new pathways, achieving an impressive 95% first-time connection rate. This has transformed clinician-to-clinician communication and strengthened SEL’s commitment to ensuring the right care in the right place, the first time.
A remarkable 65% of patients were accepted onto UCR pathways, ensuring that urgent cases were prioritised quickly and efficiently. Additionally, 15% of patients were treated out of hospital with advice provided remotely – reducing unnecessary conveyances and ensuring hospital capacity is preserved for those who truly need it.
The introduction of UCR via Consultant Connect has also led to a data-driven approach to streamlining the pathway. Building on its success, SEL expanded its use of the service, adding 35 additional lines spanning seven new specialties this year – a clear demonstration of sustained commitment to service improvement and system-wide collaboration.
‘It’s been great to work with an ICB that is so open to innovation and improvement. The initial work we did with the UCR teams has now led to an expansion of the concept, which I’m sure will bring a higher level of data to improve patient care further across a range of new specialties.’ – Nick Smith, Account Manager at Consultant Connect.
WINNER for e-RS Connect:
University Hospitals of Dorset NHS Foundation Trust
We are pleased to announce the University Hospitals Dorset Foundation Trust (UHD) as this year’s winner of the ‘e-RS Connect’ Award. The dermatology team at UHD has adopted e-RS Connect to enhance efficiency in Advice & Guidance (A&G), streamline referral workflows, and optimise clinical capacity management. By utilising functionalities such as instant image previewing without downloading, direct EPR integration, and the removal of manual admin uploads, UHD has significantly enhanced the speed and quality of its referral triage process.
The team has also made extensive use of e-RS Connect’s flagging and note-adding features, allowing for more precise tracking of cases and helping to identify opportunities for additional clinic sessions.
Before adopting e-RS Connect, UHD faced a substantial backlog of dermatology referrals. The Trust introduced an NCN consultant to support with triage, providing GPs with detailed management plans for patients not requiring appointments. For those who required specialist assessment, the in-house team utilised the bespoke e-RS Connect letter templates to deliver faster and more consistent responses.
UHD’s proactive and innovative use of e-RS Connect serves as a strong example of how smart digital tools can unlock clinical time, reduce backlogs, and support patients more effectively.
‘The Dermatology team at UHD have been the trail blazers in terms of usage and development of e-RS Connect to ensure that it can help them, not only deliver timely Advice and Guidance to local GPs, but also easily identify trends of requests that can support education going forward. As a result of their wholehearted adoption, we are now rolling out e-RS Connect across the Trust with Rheumatology, Urology, Gastroenterology, Cardiology and Gynaecology all using the service.’ – Celia Enderby, Account Manager at Consultant Connect.
WINNER for Patient Access:
South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust
Congratulations to South Warwickshire University NHS Foundation Trust (SWFT), winner of the 2025 ‘Patient Access’ Award. The rheumatology team has transformed its patient-initiated follow-up model by using Patient Access to conduct secure, efficient SMS-based consultations. Since its launch in December 2024, the service has doubled messaging activity and significantly reduced incoming call volumes – easing administrative pressures and enhancing patient communication.
More than 1,500 rheumatology patients were supported by the service this year. With a median reply time of 5 hours, the team has achieved an outstanding 81% first-time resolution rate, ensuring that most patient queries are resolved quickly without the need for follow-up contact.
The demonstrable success of SWFT’s approach means the service is now being rolled out to additional teams in the new year, supporting wider adoption of digital-first patient communication across the Trust.
‘By adopting the new digital solution Patient Access, SWFT’s rheumatology team has elevated the patient support pathway, streamlining communication and enabling faster, more efficient resolution of queries. Their outstanding response times and first-time resolution rate demonstrate the effectiveness of this approach, and I’m excited to see it scaled across the Trust.’ – Harriet Leslie, Account Manager and Governance Officer at Consultant Connect.
WINNER for Partnership of the Year:
NHS Scotland
We are excited to announce NHS Scotland as the winner of the ‘Partnership of the Year’ Award for its exemplary rollout of digital image-capture technology across all 14 Scottish health boards.
The national implementation enables clinicians to securely take, store, and share dermatology images and associated documents with specialist teams for timely advice and accurate clinical record-keeping. The pathway supports clinicians in determining whether patients require a face-to-face appointment or if treatment can be safely managed within primary care, helping to reduce pressure on hospital waiting lists while improving patient access and outcomes.
In 2025, clinicians in Scotland captured more than 22,000 dermatology images using Consultant Connect. Impressively, more than 21,000 of those were automatically uploaded to the National Digital Platform (NDP) for easy attachment to onward referrals, ensuring consistent documentation and seamless data flow.
More than 1,800 users across 528 practices have now utilised the service, demonstrating the scale and strength of this national partnership.
‘There has been a lot of hard work on both sides of this implementation, including integration developments between Consultant Connect and NDP, and this is evident in the pace and effectiveness of the rollout. It has been great to work with the ANIA Team, and to now see the usage at over 20,000 photo sessions is fantastic.’ – David Marsh, Account Manager at Consultant Connect.
WINNER for Project Advocate:
NHS Forth Valley – Emma Wakefield
We are delighted to announce Emma Wakefield of NHS Forth Valley as the winner of this year’s ‘Project Advocate’ Award. Throughout 2025, Emma has played a pivotal role in implementing over 30 new pathways onto Consultant Connect for clinicians across Forth Valley. These include key pathways such as the Scottish Ambulance Service to Mental Health, the Minor Injuries Unit to the Emergency Department, and the Scottish Ambulance Service to Hospital at Home.
Emma’s proactive leadership, her ability to champion Consultant Connect across both primary and secondary care, and her commitment to improving clinician experience make her an outstanding example of what a great project advocate looks like. Her work has strengthened collaboration, improved decision-making, and expanded access to specialist advice across the region.
‘Working with Emma on the Forth Valley Project has been a delight. Emma’s approach to implementing pathways in Forth Valley has been inspiring, and her ability to drive change and improvement among all stakeholders has contributed significantly to the project’s success. Emma’s knowledge of the local health landscape and experience working with primary and secondary care mean that she has a unique perspective on how best to employ Consultant Connect in Forth Valley. Emma’s relationships across the board and her determination to improve pathways have resulted in significant improvements in patient flow in Forth Valley.’ – Stephen Lamb, Customer Success Manager at Consultant Connect.
WINNER for National Consultant Network Excellence:
Dr Natasha Stembridge
This year, the Consultant Connect team is proud to announce the first recipient of our new ‘National Consultant Network (NCN) Excellence’ Award: Consultant Dermatologist Dr Natasha Stembridge.
Dr Stembridge has been part of the NCN for 3 years, during which she has triaged both routine and urgent suspected cancer referrals. Her detailed and practical management plans have helped primary care clinicians confidently manage patients without unnecessary delays, while her triage expertise has significantly reduced referral backlogs across multiple regions.
Primary care colleagues praise her clear, supportive advice, and project leads highlight her insightful contributions regarding pathway efficiencies and service improvement.
Thank you, Dr Stembridge, for your exceptional hard work and dedication.
‘Natasha is an absolute pleasure to work with. She is always responsive and receptive to feedback, and her commitment to each and every project is second to none. Our clients are always delighted with her work, which consistently exceeds expectations.’ – Grace Jackson, Referral Triage & Information Governance Lead at Consultant Connect.
* All data relates to calls and photo messages where an outcome was reported, and data is correct as of December 2025
Contact us for more information:
If you have any questions, or would like more information about our projects, call us on 01865 951 207 or email hello@consultantconnect.org.uk.
