The NHS Centre for Involvement is rewarding innovation and imagination in Patient and Public Involvement through a new national awards scheme.

The Involvement Awards 2009 are a celebration of the extensive work being undertaken by NHS, the Voluntary Sector and social care organisations in their engagement and involvement of the public and patients in health and social care services.

They are looking for projects which have used an imaginative and groundbreaking approach to public involvement to showcase their work to a national audience.

The awards are in two categories - Commissioning and Provider - and the judges are looking for projects which can also demonstrate the real impact and sustainable change Patient and Public Involvement has had on services.

The winner of each category will be awarded a prize fund of £5000, which will be used to disseminate the work and findings of their project to a wider audience, or for an extension of the work, ensuring a continual development of the methods and practice of Patient and Public Involvement throughout the country.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony which will form part of the NHS Centre for Involvement's Summer Conference at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in London on 2nd July.

For more details on how to enter, please visit their website.

Organisations must submit their entries to reach the NHS Centre for Involvement by 5pm on Friday 15th May 2009.

14:37:42  2009-05-05