NHS teams from across England were recognised for contributions to patient care at the inaugural 2026 NHS Excellence Awards, held this week in Manchester. The ceremony covered ten categories including cancer diagnostics, mental health, palliative care, and digital innovation.

The event, held at Manchester Central Convention Complex as part of NHS ConfedExpo, was delivered in partnership with Pfizer. Senior NHS leaders attended, among them chief executive Sir Jim Mackey and chief nursing officer Duncan Burton, who hosted proceedings.

Ten awards were presented on the day. The Medway NHS Foundation Trust took the delivering value award for its SMART Acute Virtual Hospital, which the trust says has freed up the equivalent of nearly 5,000 beds and created capacity matching 54 inpatient beds. The model allows patients to receive hospital-level care at home, reducing the pressure on physical ward space.

In cancer diagnostics, Somerset NHS Foundation Trust received the digital innovation award for an NHS 111 self-referral tool that gives patients direct access to breast cancer diagnostics. More than 2,000 people used the service, and 51 cancer cases were identified through it. The tool was described by organisers as a "digital front door" for diagnostics, removing some of the reliance on GP referrals.

The working in partnership award went to the Marie Curie Responsive Emergency Assessment and Community Team, known as REACT, based in Bradford. The team combined NHS provision with voluntary sector support to deliver urgent and end-of-life care, resulting in more than 20,000 hospital bed days saved. Patients in the last year of life were more likely to remain at home rather than requiring hospital admission.

Liverpool's Place Population Management programme won the neighbourhood health award. The service uses data to identify patients at risk before they require emergency care, and has recorded a 36 per cent reduction in emergency admissions alongside a 28 per cent fall in accident and emergency attendances.

Other recipients included Northamptonshire NHS Foundation Trust, recognised for its East Midlands CAMHS Collaborative addressing mental health provision for young people, and North West London Sleep Medicine Services, which used AI-enabled technology to redesign its diagnostic pathway and was awarded in the sustainable healthcare category.

The valuing our people award was given to the North East and North Cumbria Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub, for a programme accessible across NHS, social care, and voluntary sector colleagues. Holderness Health received the quality improvement award for its palliative care model in general practice, which included a rapid-access telephone line for patients and carers.

Sir Jim Mackey said the NHS was "crammed with really talented people doing fantastic things every day" and that the projects recognised had delivered results in freeing up beds, earlier cancer detection, and care for vulnerable patients.

The awards reflect priorities the NHS has set out in recent years around neighbourhood-based care, digital access, and preventative health. Several of the winning programmes achieved measurable reductions in hospital admissions by intervening earlier or shifting care closer to home, which aligns with the direction of NHS England's long-term planning.

The 2026 ceremony was the first of what organisers intend to be an annual event. Given the volume of submissions, it is reasonable to expect future editions will face harder choices about which initiatives merit recognition. Whether the awards translate into wider adoption of successful models across other trusts remains to be seen, but the results documented by this year's winners suggest there is no shortage of workable approaches already operating within the system.

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