HSJ awards success for Cheshire and Merseyside provider collaborative

A group of people on stage at an award show. The person is the middle is holding an award.
A group of people on stage at an award show. The person is the middle is holding an award.

Cheshire and Merseyside’s provider collaborative gained national recognition after winning Provider Collaborative of the Year at last night’s HSJ Awards.

Health Service Journal (HSJ) judges praised Cheshire and Merseyside Acute and Specialist Trust Alliance (CMAST) for its “strong and effective collaboration” and its potential for further growth and co-production.

Between 2022 and 2023, by working together the provider collaborative eliminated the 104-week wait and reduced the 78-week wait for nearly 40,000 people, meaning more people received the care they needed much quicker.

Provider collaboratives are partnerships that bring Trusts together to work at scale to benefit patients.

CMAST brings together 13 trusts, serving a population 2.6 million across nine Local Authority areas.

The awards were judged by more than 190 leading health and care figures including NHS England chair Richard Meddings, Department of Health and Social Care director general for NHS performance and policy Matthew Style and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence chief executive Sam Roberts.

Meanwhile, NHS Cheshire and Merseyside’s Medical Director, Professor Rowan Pritchard Jones, was a finalist in the Clinical Leader of the Year category.

You can find out more about CMAST and its individual trusts here.

You can find out more about the HSJ Awards here.