NHS University Hospitals of Liverpool Group (UHL Group) is celebrating a double nomination in this year’s prestigious Health Service Journal (HSJ) Awards.
Liverpool Metastatic Bone Service (LiMBS) has been shortlisted for Acute Sector Innovation of the Year, whilst Cheshire and Merseyside Provider Collaborative, which involves colleagues from UHL Group, is a finalist for the Medicines, Pharmacy and Prescribing Award.
LiMBS provides care for patients whose cancer has spread from an organ, tissue or gland to the bones and is one of the busiest services of its kind in the country.
The team has been recognised for its innovative improvements in referral times, diagnostic testing and patient outcomes. A key change has been the move from weekly in-person multidisciplinary meetings to on-demand virtual discussions, which allows clinicians from across cancer services to collaborate more easily and agree the best course of treatment. As a result, patients are now receiving the right care more quickly, often avoiding unnecessary treatments that would previously have been attempted first.
Surgical outcomes have also significantly improved. Of the 369 patients operated on this year, fewer than 2% required follow-up or corrective surgery. This impressive success rate, combined with the team’s streamlined referral process, has attracted interest from other regional metastatic bone services keen to learn from this care model.
Birender Kapoor, Orthopaedic Consultant, said: “This is a proud moment for the team, whose passion and commitment to improving patient care never falters.
“We have worked incredibly hard to implement several service improvements, which are now bearing fruit.
“Whether we win the award or not, being recognised alongside so many outstanding initiatives is already a win in itself."
The Cheshire and Merseyside Provider Collaborative has been shortlisted for its innovative, system-wide approach to addressing challenges in homecare pharmacy services, resulting in £10.2 million in savings and an improved prescription process.
Pharmacy teams from the UHL Group collaborated with regional acute and specialist Trusts, NHS England, and the Cheshire and Merseyside Integrated Care Board to enhance access to homecare services and improve their overall effectiveness.
As part of the initiative, specialist pharmacists have been deployed across the system to identify opportunities for more cost-effective prescribing, while ensuring medicines are used safely and appropriately by patients at home.
Pippa Roberts, Clinical Director of Pharmacy at UHL Group, said: “It is great to see this collaborative effort recognised at a national level.
“By working together, we are getting better outcomes for patients across Cheshire and Merseyside and have delivered substantial savings for the health economy.”
For more information on the 2025 shortlist, please visit the HSJ Awards website.
The winners will be announced on 20 November 2025.