Lancashire Care receives National Go Award!

LANCASHIRE Care NHS Foundation Trust recently received an award at the prestigious National Go Awards 2019 that was held to celebrate innovations, initiatives and advancements whilst improving patient experience.

The Trust came Highly Commended in the:- 'Procurement Project of the Year' category for working collaboratively with local NHS and public sector partners to improve the Health and Social Care Network (HSCN) across the Lancashire Integrated Care System. The HSCN is a new data network that allows health and care organisations to access and exchange electronic information, helping clinicians to deliver more timely care and a better patient experience

The project has not only created considerable savings for the NHS, but has also included Lancashire Fire and Rescue (LFR) connecting nearly 400 sites across Lancashire with improved network performance, speed and security. The new network underpins the healthcare systems that doctors and nurses use, and will deliver important improvements in performance as well as securing against future malware and cyber attacks.

Stephen McGarry, Head of Procurement and Commercial Finance at Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust, said:- "To be Highly Commended in such a competitive category, with such august company, is a major achievement and recognises the very special efforts and hard work of many individuals who came together to help create this rewarding outcome."

The winners were announced at an awards ceremony held on 30 April 2019, at the Hilton Metropole, Birmingham, where judges described the Lancashire Care project as:- "a very successful procurement with tangible cashable savings and service benefits, delivered in an innovative approach."

The awards reward those individuals, teams and organisations that have gone above and beyond normal standards in public procurement to make real differences to the quality of public services across the UK. This year's:- 'UK National GO Awards' was Hosted by TV presenter Sarah Heaney.

For more information please visit:- GoAwards.Co.UK.

Southport Flower Show Launches School Garden Competition with Bents Garden and Home

BUDDING young garden designers could see their ideas come to life at this year's Southport Flower Show and win cash to improve their School Grounds. Britain's largest independent flower show celebrates its 90th Anniversary this summer with a brilliant competition for creative primary School children. 2 prize winners will have their designs taken from the page and turned into real life show gardens seen by tens of thousands of visitors to Southport. Judges will be looking for creative designs which capture the spirit of the:- 'Garden Party' theme of the 2019 Anniversary Show. The 2 winners will also win ₤250 towards sprucing up their School Grounds, courtesy of our competition sponsors Bents Garden and Home, the 'UK's Best Destination Garden Centre 2019.'

Matthew Bent, Managing Director at Bents Garden & Home said:-  "We often promote the benefits of gardening and the reasons why grown-ups should roll their sleeves up and get outdoors, but the sooner we can get gardening into our lives the better. A competition like this is a great way to get children enthused and inspired about what can be achieved, and hopefully start a lifelong love for the garden. We are looking forward to seeing the designs, I'm sure there's a lot of creativity waiting to be released!"

The Southport Schools Design A Garden competition is open to all primary School children who are aged 7 to 11 (entrants must be in the current School years 3, 4, 5 and 6.)  A team of gardening specialists and horticulturists has been assembled to judge the paper designs for a show garden measuring 6m x 6m.

The winning designs will built and assembled by apprentice landscape gardeners from Myerscough College, before they are unveiled at the 90th Anniversary Show, which runs from Thursday, 15 August to Sunday, 18 August 2019.

Winners will also be invited as:- 'Special Guests' to Southport Flower Show for the presentation, along with their families and teachers.  Plus 5 runners up will win ₤50 in Bents vouchers towards work to improve their School Grounds and will also be invited to the show. Classes or individual children can enter and there is no limit to the number of entries per School.  If you have a young garden designer in the family, or you are a teacher with creative children in your class, this is your chance to showcase their talents.

Closing date for the Southport Schools Design A Garden competition is Wednesday, 3 June 2019, and should be sent to:- Schools Design a Garden Competition, Southport Flower Show, Victoria Park, Southport, Merseyside, PR8 1RX, UK

Ray Roukin, General Manager at Southport Flower Show said:-  "We were amazed by the skill and talent shown in the School garden designs last year and can't wait to see what the young designers come up with for 2019. We are marking our 90th Anniversary this summer at Southport and what better way to do it than to celebrate the garden designers of the future?"

Southport Flower Show attracts around 50,000 visitors to the 4 day event each year and has a host of celebrities in attendance from chefs to gardening experts and TV stars.