Industry innovations and workforce transformations lead to success for Northumbria Healthcare

The awards acknowledge teams and individuals that are actively working to advance healthcare sciences to positively impact both patient and staff experience.

Jonathan Boxshall, pathology quality manager, won the ‘Innovation Excellence’ award on behalf of the groundbreaking pathology drones project that has transformed the way blood products are transported across the region.

Working in collaboration with NHS Blood and Transport and private partner Apian, the team carried out rigorous testing of blood products to ensure no significant difference in quality when compared to transport by road.

The pilot programme involved 194 drone flights over a three-month period to validate the service’s reliability and safety.

Receiving runner-up for the ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’ award was Nicola Norman on behalf of the Pathology Education and Training Team for its widening participation work to introduce the pathology apprenticeship programme.

This has resulted in removing barriers to entry to biomedical science careers and helped tackle recruitment issues and skills shortages.

In addition, Debra Padgett, clinical pathology lead and lead healthcare scientist, has been awarded a prestigious Honorary Fellowship from the Royal College of Pathologists for her outstanding contributions to pathology and biomedical science.

Throughout her career and as former Institute of Biomedical Science President, Debra has been a strong advocate for the vital role of biomedical scientists in healthcare – working to raise awareness of their contributions and strengthen collaboration across NHS departments.