Entrepreneurial Achievement:
This award will be presented to the individual who demonstrates continuing commitment to furthering his or her independent healthcare business, and whose entrepreneurship results in demonstrable growth of his or her organisation.
Winner in 2006: Chris Jessop, Nuffield Proactive Health

Healthcare Funding Product Development:
As non-insured medical expenses schemes become more common, and as the lines between state and private healthcare provision continue to blur, the role of private medical insurance and healthcare funding products is subject to change. This category will be open to individuals or teams demonstrating outstanding innovation in the field of private medical insurance or independent healthcare funding more generally. Entries should provide evidence of market success.
Winner in 2006: WPA

Healthcare Outcomes:
No other industry sector has to be as results driven as healthcare. This category is open to those units or organisations that can demonstrate clear evidence of genuine improvements in healthcare outcomes – either in a single speciality or across the clinical range.
Winner in 2006: Lucia Katsumbe, HCA Healthcare

Hotel Services:
This award recognises and rewards the largely unsung areas of hotel services. Nominations are welcome, for example, on behalf of outstanding achievements in food preparation and provision, the creation of innovative and excellent social/community environments for patients/residents or other examples demonstrating excellence in the wider field of hotel services.
Winner in 2006: Paul Cook, Anchor Trust

Innovation:
This award recognises and rewards a significant and cutting-edge advance in independent healthcare provision – be it medical, financial, nursing or organisational. Nominees should provide evidence of outcomes to support their nomination. The award is open to individuals, teams or whole units.
Winner in 2006: Val Gains, Threshfield Court Care Home (Barchester Healthcare)

Management Excellence:
This award will identify the manager or executive that has made the single most effective contribution towards the success of a team, unit or company in the preceding 12 months. It will be open to nominations covering the full range of management activities, from clinical services to support services to general management. Nominees should provide examples of where their influence has positively impacted in delivery.
Winner in 2006: Paul Courtney, Mount Tryon Care Home (Barchester Healthcare)

Medical Practice:
This award will recognise and reward outstanding examples of medical practice – either clinical or practice management. It will be awarded to a person, team or unit whose work has made a demonstrable contribution to improving patient treatment and care.
Winner in 2006: Carol Dilley, Sussex Health Care

Nursing Practice:
As with the medical practice award, this category will primarily be open to examples of where outstanding nursing practice models have contributed to improving patient care. Again, this may be in the clinical, care or practice management fields.
Winner in 2006: Jonathan Canham, HCA Healthcare

Outstanding Contribution:
This special award will be presented to the individual whom the judges believe has made a long-term – often life-long – outstanding contribution to the independent healthcare sector. Nominations are welcomed from across the range of personnel and across the wide-ranging independent healthcare sector.
Winner in 2006 (posthumously): Teddy Webb, founder of BUPA/ Nuffield Hospitals

Public Private Partnership:
This category acknowledges the growing role played by the independent sector in delivering healthcare services in tandem with the statutory sector. The award will be presented to that project which the judges believe to be the best example of public-private sector co-operation and performance. Nominees should demonstrate where projects have positively impacted upon patient/customer care.
Winner in 2006: Nuffield Hospitals, Patient Choice Pilots

Excellence in Training:
This award seeks to reward those training managers, departments and organisations that can demonstrate how their approaches to training and the training programmes they provide have improved working practices in their organisations. In addition, the judges will look for examples where training programmes have provided tangible benefits either to staff, their business or the independent sector in general.

Independent Healthcare Ambassador:
This new category seeks to highlight the role of individuals as ambassadors for independent health and social care over the preceding 12 months – on a micro or macro, local or national level. Examples might include:
• Those whose representation of the sector with Government has resulted in the sector gaining more contracts for NHS work
• Those whose influence may positively impact upon the regulatory environment.
• Those whose negotiating skills with local government has resulted in across the board fee increases in care homes.