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The Barts Health group of hospitals is delighted to announce that we are short-listed in the Trust of the Year category at the 2026 Health Service Journal (HSJ) awards and for five other specialist categories as well.

This peer recognition of the organisation’s contribution to healthcare reflects the hard work and dedication of our staff and supporters during some very challenging times.

In addition to Trust of the Year, our teams are also shortlisted for:

• Digitising Patient Care

• Driving Efficiency Through Technology

• The Medicines, Pharmacy and Prescribing Initiative of the Year

• Using AI to Enhance Quality and Efficiency

• Mental Health Innovation of the Year - alongside our partners in the pan-London Major Trauma Psychology Network

It follows a year in which teams from our hospitals and support services achieved record numbers of nominations at other professional and specialist awards.

The annual HSJ awards, traditionally the most prestigious in the sector, received over 1300 entries this year, with 231 organisations shortlisted across 26 categories.

The Trust of the Year category is open to all NHS acute, ambulance, mental health and specialist providers and we face competition from eight other organisations.

Judges are looking for those that took on the biggest challenges: reducing waiting times, improving clinical quality, and ensuring financial resilience, while also keeping staff well-being and inclusivity at the heart of their approach.

The synopsis of our submission said: “As one of the biggest NHS trusts we aim to be the best. We are already among the busiest, with a record 7,500 daily visitors to our five hospitals from some of the country's most diverse, disadvantaged and fastest-growing communities. Despite rising demand and financial constraints we maintain quality and improve performance, and leaped 53 places in the recent National Oversight Framework rankings from the bottom half into the top quartile. The extraordinary skill and dedication of our clinicians and support staff was featured across three major national television documentary series during the past year."

Shane DeGaris, group chief executive, said: “It is as much of an honour to be chosen for the shortlist of these awards as to win, and the fact that we are not only nominated as Trust of the Year but also up for four other awards is fantastic. This is a real testament to the skills of our people and the high quality of services we provide to our patients from across North East London and beyond.”

Winners will be announced during the awards ceremony at Evolution London on 19 November 2026.