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The SENTINEL team receive their award

A project led by the Yorkshire & Humber AHSN, Hull University Teaching Hospitals and AstraZeneca that seeks to improve asthma care whilst protecting the environment, has won a prestigious HSJ Partnership Award. 

The SENTINEL project, which is committed to reducing the associated carbon footprint that comes with prescribing blue inhalers, was named the ‘Environmental Sustainability Project of the Year’ during a ceremony held on 24 March.

Following a rigorous judging process, involving a wide panel of judges from across the healthcare sector, the SENTINEL programme team was chosen as a finalist and then a winner in recognition of their innovative and collaborative partnerships with the NHS over the past 12 months, in a challenging time in healthcare.

The Yorkshire & Humber AHSN’s collaborative work in the region-wide rollout of the TytoCare remote monitoring device also received a high commendation for the Most Effective Contribution to Clinical Redesign category.

The accolade recognises the ongoing innovative and collaborative partnership with the three local Integrated Care Systems (ICS) within our region – West Yorkshire Health and Care Partnership, South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw ICS and Humber, Coast and Vale Health and Care Partnership. 

Richard Stubbs, Chief Executive Officer of Yorkshire & Humber AHSN, said: “To have been shortlisted for two awards has been absolutely fantastic but to win one and be ‘highly commended’ for the other is the icing on the cake. Our work as an AHSN is all about collaboration with the sector and industry. And while we are committed to driving improvements in health and care through the implementation of new technology and services, we are also extremely dedicated and passionate about finding new ways to save our environment.

“The recognition from HSJ is a testament to the hard work of our staff and our partners and we are incredibly proud of these two projects which are shining examples of how Yorkshire and Humber is a hotbed for health innovation. They show that our region is committed to working collaboratively to find solutions to workforce challenges, to reduce the NHS’ carbon footprint and crucially, to achieve improved outcomes for patients and their families.”

Dave West, Health Service Journal’s Deputy Editor congratulated the teams on their successful win: “This year’s entrants displayed a varied range of projects and partnerships, all working together to benefit the nation’s healthcare sector. The winners were chosen after considerable deliberation on many success factors, but primarily on the innovativeness and commitment to healthcare. On this occasion, I congratulate the winners for their hard work and workmanship, and I look forward to learning the future of their projects, now with the added accolade from the HSJ family.”

The awards ceremony was held at Park Plaza, Westminster in Central London, and was attended by leaders and professionals from both the NHS and private sector as well as figures from non-clinical backgrounds. The ceremony was hosted by actor/comedian/writer Tom Allen, and the evening was a celebration of the collaboration and innovation of private organisations and charities with the NHS.

The full list of winners and finalists for the HSJ Partnership Awards 2022 can be found here: https://partnership.hsj.co.uk/.

About SENTINEL:

In the UK, anti-inflammatory inhalers are under-used in asthma while almost two in five patients are potentially over-reliant on their blue inhalers (prescribed three or more inhalers in a year). Patients who are over-reliant on their blue (SABA) inhalers have twice as many asthma attacks compared to those who don’t, regardless of their asthma severity.

The SENTINEL programme, is currently running across six primary care networks (PCNs) in Hull and East Riding, a region with 40,000 asthma patients and some of the highest rates of reliever inhaler over-reliance in the country.

SENTINEL PLUS is a free online package of resources, that interested GPs/PCN’s can use to target their asthma patient reviews; thereby managing those patients on multiple blue inhalers by more effectively prescribing alternatives. As a result of this improved prescribing practice, we also dramatically reduce the amount of CO2e being produced, working towards a greener NHS.

Early data from the first PCN in Hull shows a reduction in the prescription of blue inhalers by over 10,000 units, this is the equivalent to 377 transatlantic flights from Leeds to New York.

About TytoCare

The wireless handheld device allows clinicians, community care teams and patients and their families to perform medical examinations anytime, anywhere for the ear, throat, lungs, heart, temperature, skin and abdomen. These examinations can be online, live with a medical professional or can be recorded by the patient, parent or carer and uploaded to a secure platform for review by clinical teams.

It can be used to diagnose a range of acute conditions such as colds, flu, ear infections, bronchitis and sore throats and can also be used to manage chronic conditions such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), high blood pressure, asthma, congestive heart failure and diabetes.

The product is being rolled-out to support staff and patients in a variety of care settings ranging from children’s hospitals and emergency departments to care homes and GP practices.

Read more about the TytoCare pilot projects.