A children's diabetes team based at Ormskirk Hospital's been named a North West winner in the NHS Parliamentary Awards 2020.

Prof May Ng and her diabetes team, who serve patients across West Lancashire, Southport and Formby, came top in the 'Excellence in Health Care' category, and will now go head-to-head with other winning regions ahead of next summer’s national awards ceremony in London as the only diabetes team competing for honours.

MPs and local NHS leaders made nominations for the awards to honour the skill, dedication and compassion of health and care staff who have helped to improve treatment for patients in their constituencies.

The winners were picked by judges drawn from across the NHS who selected from more than 700 nominations across 10 categories.

Prof Ng, a consultant paediatrician and paediatric endocrinologist, and Honorary Associate Professor at the University of Liverpool, said: “We are truly thrilled to have won this award!

"It’s thanks to the hard work from the whole team and is brilliant news for our patients too. It’s particularly humbling to be winners in the same category as the research teams working on the Covid-19 vaccine at Oxford University, who took the South East Award.”

Prof Ng and her team’s innovative and imaginative approach to care have hugely improved national diabetes clinical outcomes for children and young people.

It has included embracing diabetes technology and social media for patient engagement; routinely using telemedicine clinics since 2015; holding regular family diabetes fun day events and evening structured family education sessions; establishing a children’s 'Diabetes Geeks Club' and 'Tree of Life' sessions while embracing well-being and solution-focused approaches into routine diabetes care.

Their win comes after Southport Hospital’s Critical Care team won the national Emergency and Critical Care Award in last week's Nursing Times awards.