UHNM’s Academy for Continuous Improvement scoops two awards at prestigious LCS Awards

University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust’s (UHNM) Academy for Continuous Improvement has been recognised with two major honours at this year’s Lean Competency System (LCS) Conference and Awards. 

The Academy took home the ‘Improvement for Good Award’, celebrating its Trust-wide improvement programme and the impact frontline teams have made over the past four years, and the ‘LCS Leadership Award’, which was awarded to Dr Ruth Bednall, associate director for improvement, for her outstanding leadership in embedding improvements across UHNM.

‘Lean’ is an organisational management technique that aims to improve performance through continuous improvement. Developed at Cardiff Business School, the LCS offers accreditation to lean training programmes, enabling them to issue lean qualifications to those they train. The Academy for Continuous Improvement’s programme was awarded LCS accreditation in May 2024.

Reflecting on the Improvement for Good Award, Laura Barlow, continuous improvement practitioner said: “We’re really pleased to receive this award, it’s a great testament to the nearly 60 teams we’ve worked with over the past four years. We support teams with training and coaching, but ultimately this award is about the incredible work our frontline colleagues have done. The judges were particularly interested in the positive regulator feedback from areas such as County and Maternity services where we’ve focused much of our support.”

On receiving the LCS Leadership Award, Dr Ruth Bednall, associate director for quality improvement at UHNM, said: “It’s very humbling whenever you’re nominated by your peers, because improvement specialists are often in the background. The nature of our work means success belongs to the teams we work with. I feel very privileged to be recognised this year, it’s particularly meaningful knowing that some of my own teams nominated me.”