Today, the Health Innovation West Midlands is proud to announce the return of the prestigious Meridian Celebration of Innovation Awards, with entries now open.

Since its launch in 2015, the awards programme has been celebrating the individuals and organisations that are revolutionising healthcare in the West Midlands with new ideas, technologies, and initiatives.

This year’s awards will shine a particular light on those that have continued to encourage positive change to patient care and the region’s healthcare economy, in spite of the challenges brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The fifth rendition of the awards will be making a virtual return with an online ceremony taking place on Tuesday, 30 March 2021.

Any organisation or individual from across the healthcare, enterprise, academia, or not-for-profit sectors can enter, but they must have worked on a project with HIWM, or one of its expert networks to qualify.

This year’s categories include:

• Meridian Innovation and Improvement Champion Award
• Workforce Innovation Award
• MidTECH Award for Best NHS-Developed Innovation
• Mental Health Resilience Innovation Award
• Medicines Optimisation and Management Innovation Award
• Driving Digital Transformation Innovation Award
• Patient Safety and Improvement Award
• Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Management Innovation Award
• ‘Above and Beyond’ Adoption of Innovation Award
• Meridian Award

Tammy Holmes, Head of Innovation Exchange at HIWM said: “We are excited to once again recognise and celebrate some of the incredible work taking place within the West Midlands’ vibrant healthcare sector.

“For anyone working in the healthcare industry especially, 2020 has been year to remember. We have continued to see the region’s healthcare industry improve, thanks to the passion and dedication shown from the many individuals and organisations we work with.

“We look forward to once again celebrating the successes of those seeking to address challenges and offer tangible solutions to make our industry better and improve patient care.”

Meridian Innovation Exchange is open for any individuals or organisations to find healthcare innovations, share ideas, build groups and grow networks to collaborate and improve healthcare provision across the West Midlands.

The platform helps users showcase their ideas, spread good practice, share ideas and bring about change with collaborators from across sectors. For more information and to register for free visit https://meridian.www.healthinnovationwestmidlands.org