Commissioner of the Year announced at GP Awards 2015

Gwyn Harris from Sandwell and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group (SWBCCG) was announced as the Commissioner of the Year at The General Practice Awards 2015 in London last night.

In 2014 SWBCCG was the fifth highest spending CCG nationally for Oral Nutritional Supplement's (ONS). Prescribing costs per capita suggested non-cost effective and inappropriate prescribing and initiation of ONS and monitoring did not meet clinical guidance.

To achieve a tangible impact on GP prescribing behaviour an insight-driven approach was adopted, and a partnership between SWBCCG Medicines Quality Team, Sandwell Dieticians and the Nutrition Industry was established to implement a multi-faceted project strategy.

Within just six months SWBCCG dropped to the 44^th highest spending CCG in England.

After collecting his award at the ceremony in the Lancaster Hotel yesterday Harris said: “It’s really great to do innovative, exciting work and be recognised for it. I’m extremely grateful that that happens.”

Other winners from the awards at the Lancaster Hotel yesterday included GP of the Year Dr Yassir Javaid for his work reducing stroke emergency admissions in the East Midlands, and Practice Manager of the Year was Muhammad Ahmed from Teehey Lane Medical Centre in Wirral.

Other winners were:

· Nurse of the Year – falls prevention in older people – West Wirral Group Practice

· Communications Provider of the Year – Opus Healthcare Communications

· Innovators of the Year – Bevan Healthcare Outreach Services – Gina Rowlands

· Clinical Team of the Year for Long Term Conditions – for their work on pharmacists taking part of GPs caseloads – Germaine Swarbrick

· Nursing Team of the Year – Cuckoo Lane Health Care APMS, Leadership, Patient and Community Engagement, Holistic Care to patient – Julie Belton

See the full list, including the award-winning suppliers and providers, here