Picker Experience Network 2025 - Book of Best Practice
The atmosphere at the University of Birmingham on Thursday, 2nd October, was one of pride and celebration, as healthcare leaders, innovators, and patient experience champions gathered for the 2025 Picker Experience Network Awards (PEN Awards). The venue brimmed with conversation, as health and social care colleagues from across the UK and around the world came together to celebrate the very best in patient experience.
Against this backdrop of inspiration, the Southern Health and Social Care Trust with their project ‘Seasons of Life’ was announced as the overall winner of the 2025 Picker Experience Network Awards.
Delivered in schools, ‘Seasons of Life’ recognises that grief extends beyond bereavement to include experiences such as parental separation, care placement, refugee status, and family imprisonment. Led by a multidisciplinary team, the trauma-informed initiative combines clinical expertise with creative approaches like narrative and art therapy and is inclusive of neurodiverse and ethnically diverse participants.
The Picker Experience Network Awards recognise outstanding excellence in patient experience. They celebrate projects, teams, individuals, and initiatives that have made exceptional contributions to care, engagement, service delivery, and wellbeing from the perspective of patients, carers, families, and staff.
Ruth Evans, Founder and former Managing Director of PEN, said:
“Congratulations to Southern Health and Social Care Trust on this fantastic achievement. The Awards are always a special occasion and today highlighted exactly why they matter. They demonstrate what is possible when care is centred around people – their needs, their voices, and their preferences. Since Picker acquired PEN, we’ve been committed to growing this platform so that person centred care can be celebrated and shared globally. This year’s winner inspired us all.”
| OVERALL WINNER 2025 | |
| Southern Health & Social Care Trust, HSCNI | Seasons of Life |
Please see as follows all the Winners, Runner’s Up and Finalists from the Picker Experience Network Awards 2025.
| Cancer Experience of Care | ||
| WINNER | Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | Optimising Cancer Personalised Care and Support Offers with Digital Solutions |
| RUNNER UP | Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | Innovating the Traditional Lung Cancer Patient Pathway |
| FINALIST | Hywel Dda University Health Board | Leri Cancer Unit – Arts, Poetry and Health |
| FINALIST | Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | Optimising Cancer Personalised Care and Support Offers with Digital Solutions |
| FINALIST | Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance | The Urgent Cancer Care Programme |
| FINALIST | West Yorkshire and Harrogate Cancer Alliance | Dementia and Cancer Together Project – A collaboration to improve patient experience for patients with cancer and dementia |
| Commissioning for Patient Experience | ||
| WINNER | University Hospital Bristol and Weston | The Clinical Navigator Role |
| RUNNER UP | East of England Provider Collaborative | Transforming Patient Experience “Better care, closer to home and outside of hospital where possible” |
| FINALIST | Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust | Maternity Patient Information Mat |
| Communicating Effectively with Patients and Families | ||
| WINNER | University of Bristol & University of Nottingham | The Lichen Sclerosus Guide: A coproduced online information resource about vulval lichen sclerosus |
| RUNNER UP | Cheshire & Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust | Hear My Voice’ Co-Produced Educational Films |
| FINALIST | Cygnet Health Care | Improving the Communication and Co-Production of Discharge Pathways with Service Users |
| FINALIST | Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Adult Cystic Fibrosis, Patient Focus Group |
| FINALIST | NHS Blood and Transplant | Eye Donation in Palliative and End-of-life Care Settings |
| FINALIST | Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust | Maternity Patient Information Mat |
| FINALIST | Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust | Digital follow-up of high-volume low complexity (HVLC) General Surgery patients |
| FINALIST | Warrington and Halton Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Collaboratively improving the experience of the d/Deaf community |
| DAISY PEN Lifetime Achievement Award | ||
| WINNER | Ann-Marie Riley | University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust |
| RUNNER UP | Sarah Colebrook | St.John & Elizabeth Hospital |
| FINALIST | Jane Pickard | LOROS Hospice |
| FINALIST | June Brown | NHS Grampian |
| Engaging & Championing the Public | ||
| WINNER | Barts Health NHS Trust | Health Equity Action Leadership (HEAL) Project: A people-powered approach to transforming health equity |
| RUNNER UP | Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | The Engagement Partner Programme |
| RUNNER UP | Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | East Midlands Cancer Alliance Centre for Psychosocial Health – The Patient Involvement Collaboration |
| FINALIST | Cedar Foundation | User Forum |
| FINALIST | Oxleas NHS Foundation Trust | Importance of integrating Co-Production into whole systems quality |
| FINALIST | University Hospital Bristol and Weston | Young people setting the strategy: the Role of the Youth Involvement Group at UHBW |
| FINALIST | University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust | Championing the Voice of Young People |
| Environment of Care | ||
| WINNER | Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust | Supporting Every Smile: Improving the patient journey for children and young people with additional needs or neurodivergent conditions at Leeds Dental Institute |
| RUNNER UP | Hywel Dda University Health Board | Leri Cancer Unit – Arts, Poetry and Health |
| FINALIST | Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board | Alternative to Admission (A2A) Hub |
| FINALIST | Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust | Working Collaboratively |
| FINALIST | Lime | Enhancing Patient Care at MFT: Lime’s Art + Music for Health Programme |
| FINALIST | Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Trust | Improving the Hospital Experience for Children with Special Educational Needs and those that care for them |
| Independent | ||
| WINNER | Cora Health | Engaging, educating, and empowering whole communities to improve the lives of people impacted by chronic pain |
| RUNNER UP | Cleveland Clinic London | Service Excellence, You+Us=Together initiative |
| FINALIST | CardMedic | Breaking down communication barriers to enable more equitable maternity care |
| FINALIST | Cygnet Health Care | Improving Psychology Group Engagement |
| FINALIST | Personal Homecare Pharmacy | The Power of Innovation: Digital solutions within a Clinical Homecare setting |
| FINALIST | Sciensus Pharma | Improving our Complaints Process to Enhance Patient Satisfaction |
| International | ||
| WINNER | NFU and UMC NL | Patient Experience Monitor (PEM) embedded in Dutch University hospitals |
| RUNNER UP | Health Information and Quality Authority | National End of Life Survey |
| FINALIST | AnalytAIX | Pi3.14 Breaking Barriers to Benefits – A Multilingual Empathetic Agentic AI Agent for Inclusive Access, Insight, and Action-Across Languages, Literacy, and Borders |
| FINALIST | Solothurner Spitäler | We make listening possible – even when conditions aren’t ideal. Where there’s a will, there’s a way |
| Innovative Use of Technology, Social and Digital Media and Data Management and Protection | ||
| WINNER | Great Ormond Street Hospital | Patient Bedside Digitisation Platform |
| RUNNER UP | Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Using technology to enhance stroke rehabilitation care and empower patients, in both inpatients and community stroke rehab. |
| FINALIST | AnalytAIX | Empathetic Always On Support’ – Empowering Patients across Literacy. Language and Knowledge Barriers, on demand. |
| FINALIST | Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust | Digital follow-up of high-volume low complexity (HVLC) General Surgery patients |
| FINALIST | Personal Homecare Pharmacy | The Power of Innovation: Digital solutions within a Clinical Homecare setting. |
| FINALIST | Sciensus Pharma | The Sciensus InTouch App Improves Patient Safety |
| Measuring, Reporting & Acting – Using Insight for Improvement | ||
| WINNER | Royal Devon University Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | The Power of Data and Voice: Innovating Patient Feedback for Real Impact |
| RUNNER UP | NFU and UMC NL | Patient Experience Monitor (PEM) embedded in Dutch University Hospitals |
| FINALIST | Barts Health NHS Trust | Empowering Champions: From Measurement to Meaningful Change |
| FINALIST | Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | Go Decaf! |
| FINALIST | Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust | The Noise at Night Project |
| FINALIST | Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust | Digital follow-up of high-volume low complexity (HVLC) General Surgery patients |
| FINALIST | Southport and Formby Health | Extended Service Access to Cervical Screening |
| Partnership Working to Improve the Experience | ||
| WINNER | Southern Health & Social Care Trust, HSCNI, | Seasons of Life |
| RUNNER UP | Northern Health and Social Care Trust | Connect North – Community Appointment Day |
| RUNNER UP | University Hospital Bristol and Weston | The Clinical Navigator Role |
| RUNNER UP | Yorkshire Cancer Community | Cancer SMART |
| FINALIST | Belfast Health and Social Care Trust | Make My Voice Heard: Experience of Women and Children seeking international protection (PSIP) accessing health and Social Care in Northern Ireland |
| FINALIST | Southeastern Health and Social Care Trust | Hear Our Voice’ Co-produced Lived Experience Documentary produced by people living with Dementia, facilitated and supported by Dementia NI, Southern and South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust staff |
| FINALIST | Surrey and Sussex Cancer Alliance | South East Regional Lynch Syndrome Transformation Project |
| FINALIST | The Clatterbridge Cancer Centre | The Urgent Cancer Care Programme |
| FINALIST | University Hospitals Birmingham NFT and Word360 | Transforming Accessibility at Scale: UHB and Word360’s Digital Inclusion Partnership |
| FINALIST | Yorkshire Cancer Community | Cancer SMART |
| Patient Contribution | ||
| WINNER – INDIVIDUAL | The Independent Neurology Liaison Group | The Independent Neurology Liaison Group. Service users, carers and family members working to improve patient safety, governance and accountability in health and social care |
| WINNER – GROUP | University of Bristol & University of Nottingham | The Lichen Sclerosus Guide: A coproduced online information resource about vulval lichen sclerosus |
| FINALIST | Barts Health NHS Trust | Whipps Cross Patients’ Panel – 20 years of support |
| FINALIST | Belfast Trust | New Belfast Community Palliative Care Hub – Excellence in Partnership and Collaboration. |
| FINALIST | Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance | Patient Recognition |
| FINALIST | Cora Health | Flippin’ Pain: Changing the way people think about, talk about, and treat chronic pain |
| FINALIST | Kings College Hospital | The Kings Cancer Patient Voices Advisory Group (The Voice) – Working in partnership to drive improvement at Kings |
| FINALIST | Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust | Liz Farrington |
| FINALIST | Patient and Client Council | Mental Health Engagement |
| FINALIST | Public Health Agency | Service User/Carer involvement in HSC system in Northern Ireland |
| Personalisation of Care | ||
| WINNER | Cheshire and Merseyside Cancer Alliance | Using powerful stories from patient storytellers to create significant impact, and deliver measurable and identifiable improvements to patient experience. |
| RUNNER UP | Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust and Thomas Pocklington | A Vision for Sight Loss |
| FINALIST | Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust | Person Centred Care |
| FINALIST | Kent and Medway Cancer Alliance | “Limbo Land” |
| FINALIST | Moorfields Eye Hospital NHS Trust | Improving the hospital experience for children with Special Educational Needs and those that care for them. |
| FINALIST | Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust | Innovating the Traditional Lung Cancer Patient Pathway |
| FINALIST | Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust | Men Like Us’ – A cancer support group for Men |
| FINALIST | Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust | #CallMe – Because names matter |
| Staff Engagement and Improving the Staff Experience | ||
| WINNER | University College London Hospitals NHS Trust | High Quality Care for Patients through Exceptional Care for Staff: UCLH Staff Engagement and Wellbeing Success Story |
| RUNNER UP | Cedar Foundation | Leading Workplace Wellbeing Through Staff Engagement and Experience |
| FINALIST | Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust | Complex professional MDT |
| FINALIST | Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust | CNWL Our Voice: Creating an Employee Experience Listening culture |
| FINALIST | Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust | Patient and Staff Feedback Event on Abdominal Free Flap Breast Reconstruction |
| Strengthening the Foundation | ||
| WINNER | University of Greater Manchester | The PaCT Workshop: Embedding Lived Experience in Nursing Education |
| RUNNER UP | Cardiff and Vale University Health Board | The development and validation of the People’s Experience Survey for NHS Wales. |
| RUNNER UP | Northern Health and Social Care Trust | Connect North |
| FINALIST | Barts Health NHS Trust | Dementia and Delirium Mandatory Learning Training Package & Introduction Video – The Patients voice is key |
| FINALIST | Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust | The Noise at Night Project |
| FINALIST | Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust | Leaving Hospital – Improving the Joint Discharge Process |
| Student Patient Experience Advocate of Tomorrow | ||
| WINNER | Ulster University | Teddy Bear Hospital |
| RUNNER UP | Ulster University | Beyond the Prescription: Metabolic Monitoring of Atypical Antipsychotics in Primary Care |
| FINALIST | Liverpool John Moores University | LJMU Midwifery Society – advocating for students and service users |
| FINALIST | Ulster University | Improving the use of syringe drivers and anticipatory medications in primary care : a QI project in General Practice |
| FINALIST | Ulster University | Increasing the uptake of physical annual health reviews for those with severe mental illness |
| FINALIST | University of Southampton | What helps and what hinders: An exploration of self-management and living well with coexisting physical and mental long-term conditions in the community |
| Support for Caregivers, Friends & Family | ||
| WINNER | Barts Health NHS Trust | Co-Designing Compassion: Inclusive Feedback That Drives Change |
| RUNNER UP | Healthwatch Essex | Carers Voices |
| FINALIST | Contact | Contact, By Your Side Team |
| FINALIST | Dementia UK | Admiral Nurse Helpline: Dementia ‘What’s Next?’ Helpline |
| FINALIST | NEC Care | Support for patients with diabetes and a learning disability and their carers |
| FINALIST | University Hospital Bristol and Weston | Snowdrop Appeal and the Bereavement Spaces Refurbishment |
| Team of the Year | ||
| WINNER | Patient and Client Council | PCC Support in the Community |
| RUNNER UP | East & North Hertfordshire Teaching NHS Trust | Compassion in Action’ A Project on Elevating Patient Experience in the Unplanned Care Division |
| FINALIST | Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust | Transforming Paediatric ENT |
| FINALIST | The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust | Brain Tumour Therapy Coordinator Service |
To access all our official photographs from the day, please click here.
Winners presentation videos and access to all of the shortlisted submission presentations are coming soon.
For media enquiries, please contact Lucy Pickard at pressoffice@pickereurope.ac.uk or phone: 01865 632 235.
If you enjoyed our PEN 2025 playlist, you can listen back to all our tunes from the day here.