Publish date: 10 June 2022
Northumbria Healthcare’s community commitment recognised at international awards
Northumbria Healthcare’s ongoing efforts to maximise its positive impact on the communities it serves have seen the trust land another CSR award.
At the International CSR Excellence Awards 2022, the NHS trust, which runs hospitals and community services in Northumberland and North Tyneside, won the silver award in the Community Commitment – UK category.
The award citation particularly highlighted Northumbria Healthcare’s Manufacturing and Innovation Hub, which was set up at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic to ensure continuity of PPE supplies. Since then, the ambition has grown and the trust is now on a trajectory to become the country-wide lead supplier of PPE for the health and social care sector and now employs 300 people across a range of services at the site.
Phil Lobb, a non-executive director, who collected the award alongside head of CSR Wayne Daley at the ceremony in London, said: “While provision of high-quality healthcare will always be our number one priority, we recognised some time ago that the trust is such an integral part of the community and we can play a much wider role.
“We are committed to supporting residents in Northumberland, North Tyneside and the wider region in as many ways as we can and this includes through the likes of job creation and boosting local supply chains; our manufacturing hub is a perfect example of this.
“Therefore, I was delighted to be able to receive this award on behalf of everyone at the trust and the fact that we were the only NHS trust to receive an award, providing another example of how we are striving to lead the way nationally.”
This is just the latest in a string of awards that the trust has received for its commitment to corporate social responsibility, which began in November 2020 when it became the first health organisation in the UK to receive gold accreditation for CSR.
This sees organisations measured against four pillars – environment, workplace, community and philanthropic – and is granted by CSR-A, who deliver a global standard for CSR.
In June 2021, Northumbria Healthcare cemented its position as a trust that is dedicated to making a difference through the launch of Our Community Promise. This is a formal pledge to focus on all the ways it can improve people’s lives based on six key pillars, which relate to the wider factors that fuel health inequalities – poverty, employment, education, economy, environment, wellbeing.
This was followed in September by the trust securing World Leader and Champion Accredited Company status at the International CSR Excellence Awards 2021, where there was also a bronze Innovation award for the trust’s D/deaf awareness coordinator, Margaret Robertson, for her work to ensure patients with hearing loss are supported.
Then in November, at the World Leader CSR Awards, the trust landed awards in the Supporting the Arts category, for its work to bring art and artists into the healthcare environment, plus the Rehabilitation award for the D/deaf awareness project.
Media contact
Ben O’Connell, media and communications officer, Northumbria Healthcare
Benjamin.O’Connell@northumbria-healthcare.nhs.uk or 07833 046680.