Health Innovation Manchester is delighted to announce that the Greater Manchester’s Safety Medication Dashboard (SMASH) programme, a collaboration between Health Innovation Manchester, NHS Greater Manchester, University of Manchester and Graphnet, has been shortlisted for the Improving Medicines Management and Pharmacy through Digital award at the 2024 HSJ Digital Awards. The HSJ Digital Awards recognise innovative digital projects transforming care delivery, enhance efficiency, and improve patient outcomes

343 entries have been received for this year’s Digital Awards, with 165 projects and individuals meriting inclusion on the final shortlist. The high volume – and exceptional quality – of applications once again mirrors the impressive levels of innovation and care continually being developed across the UK’s healthcare system.

Following the thorough judging process, the SMASH programme was shortlisted, ahead of the official awards ceremony to be held on 6 June 2024, standing out as a real ‘success story’ worthy of a prized place on the panel’s shortlist.

The SMASH Dashboard prevents prescription errors by running patient data against evidenced-based harm indicators. In the pilot, patients at risk of harm from hazardous prescribing dropped by 40% in 12 months so it was redeveloped within the GM Care Record, giving primary care staff across 414 practices instant access to a standardised, easy to use medication safety tool which allows them to easily review medications across a cohort and make informed, proactive clinical decisions based on the data.

Gareth Thomas, Digital Innovation Director at Health Innovation Manchester and NHS Greater Manchester integrated Care, said, “Being a finalist in the HSJ Digital Awards 2024 shows the strength of collaboration between healthcare, academia and industry in our region. We’re delighted to be part of a wider team striving to further improve medication safety for the population of Greater Manchester using the GM Care Record.”

HSJ editor Alastair McLellan, adds; “It always gives me great pleasure to congratulate our finalists at this stage of the judging process and this year is no exception as we acknowledge the SMASH programme for being shortlisted in the category of Improving Medicines Management and Pharmacy through Digital.”

“We can’t wait to welcome our finalists to the awards ceremony in June, celebrating their impressive achievements and jointly acknowledging our values of sharing best practice, improving patient outcomes and continuously driving for better service.”

The selected winners will be announced during the awards ceremony at Manchester Central
on 6th June 2024. The 2024 awards judging panel was once again made up of a diverse range of highly
influential and respected figures within the healthcare community, including; Olubukola (Buki) Adeyemo, Chief Executive, North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare NHS Trust, Hatim Abdulhussein, National Clinical Lead, AI and Digital Workforce (WT&E), NHS England, Dame Margaret Whitehead, Chair, Independent Review Equity in Medical Devices and Luke Readman, Regional Director of Digital Transformation, NHS England
(London).

The full list of nominees for the 2024 HSJ Digital Awards can be found here.