WINNER

NHS England

NHS England Centralised Maternity Self-Referral

This project tackles health inequalities by transforming fragmented maternity self-referral pathways into a single, trusted national entry point on NHS.UK. Designed through inclusive research and co-production, it removes barriers for underserved groups, including those facing deprivation, digital exclusion, or lacking GP registration, enabling timely access to antenatal care. Six months post-launch, self-referrals rose from 63.7 per cent to 88.3 per cent, with GP-first contact dropping from 50 per cent to 32 per cent. In high-deprivation areas like Portsmouth, access increased by 44 percentage points. Leveraging existing NHS infrastructure delivered exceptional value for money, reducing up to 88,000 GP calls and 18,000 appointments annually, while improving outcomes and equity at scale.

Read a detailed case study about this project at HSJ Solutions

Highly commended

Warrington Together Place Partners: Living Well Warrington

Finalists

Bolton Foundation Trust Maternity Care Unit: Multilingual Maternity Padlet

Manchester University FT: DNAPredict

North Bristol Trust: Driving Equity in Early Cancer Detection through Digital Transformation: A Cross-Trust Approach to Tackling Inequality in Liver Disease

Frome Medical Practice: Bridging the Digital Divide to Reduce Health Inequalities

Northamptonshire ICB & Healthwatch West Northamptonshire: Health and Care Research for All: Strengthening Eastern European Voices

Dorset Intelligence & Insight Service: Financially Vulnerable Pensioners

Sheffield Health Partnership University FT: From Exclusion to Empowerment: Transforming health equity through compassionate digital literacy skills training for marginalised staff

Topics

HSJ Digital Awards 2026: Winners revealed

Digital Awards 2026_Left Aligned

The HSJ Digital Awards 2026 took place last night at the ICC Birmingham, celebrating outstanding contributions to digital healthcare transformation across the NHS and wider sector.