26 November 2024

The KHP Mind & Body Pain: Equality of Care and Support in the Community (PEACS) project was highly commended in the Innovation and Improvement in Reducing Healthcare Inequalities award category at the 2024 HSJ Awards.  

Alongside this outstanding achievement, the project team was also recognised in the NHS Race Equality Award category.  

KHP Mind & Body celebrated their success at the glittering awards ceremony, which shone a light on success stories from across the health and social care sector. The HSJ initiative is an annual event that aims to inspire and shape the future of the NHS.  

The award ceremony took place on Thursday 21 November at Evolution London, supported by Vodafone Business, and hosted by one of the UK’s favourite comedians, Dara O’Briain. It was a fun packed evening celebrating the achievements of dedicated teams and individuals from the UK’s health and social care sector and their ongoing efforts to deliver improved patient outcomes.   

The charity partner for the 2024 HSJ Awards was NHS Charities Together - the national charity that helps the NHS to thrive, making sure everyone can get the healthcare they deserve and working together with over 230 NHS charities across the UK.  

This year’s awards comprised an incredible 26 categories and an impressive 1351 entries were received, with 235 organisations, projects and individuals making it to the final shortlist.  

The judging panel was made up of a diverse range of more than 200 influential and respected figures within the healthcare community. All finalists and winners were judged set against five clear criteria; ambition; outcome; spread; value and involvement (including how well stakeholders buy-in and contribute towards the project initiatives and outcomes).  

The PEACS project was Highly Commended for its impact — providing an alternative solution to supporting people living with chronic pain. The project has helped patients to better manage their experience of living with chronic pain, particularly supporting those from Black backgrounds who experience a number of health inequalities, poorer outcomes and greater barriers to care compared to white people.  

In 2023 PEACS supported a total of 597 people, 296 of those were people from black communities.  

Misha Gardner, Project Manager with KHP Mind & Body said,  

“What an enormous privilege it was for the PEACS Programme to be commended at the 2024 HSJ Awards!! I am still in awe of the team and everybody who has made this possible through their incredible hard-work, skill, and determination. PEACS is something that was developed in partnership with local communities through codesign, and receiving this award feels like a full circle moment for them. It’s a real testament to what happens when you listen and respond to the needs of local communities who need, and deserve, better healthcare. This is, and will always be, for those wonderful patients, thank you so much!”

The KHP Mind and Body team was overwhelmed and honoured to have been Highly Commended - and to have stood out amongst some serious competition: 

“Thank you to everyone involved with the HSJ Awards for recognising and rewarding our efforts. It really is an honour and something which we hope will encourage colleagues from our – and other - departments to consider submitting an entry into next year’s programme too!” 

Editor of the Health Service Journal, Alastair McLellan comments;   

“Year on year, I’m always so impressed by the innovation, dedication and integrity of all those who take the time to submit an entry to the HSJ Awards – and this year has been no exception, with an outstanding calibre of applicants, presenting some tough decisions and much deliberation for her our judging panel! I’d therefore like to extend my personal congratulations to KHP Mind & Body who were Highly Commended in the category of Innovation and Improvement in Reducing Healthcare Inequalities." 

More information on the KHP Mind & Body Programme is available on our website. To get articles like this direct to your inbox, sign up for our fortnightly KHP newsletter.