Integrated health awards ceremony
In a star-studded ceremony on March 20th 2008 the winners of our Integrated Health Awards were announced. HRH The Prince of Wales gave the awards.
The healing power of nature was a factor in many of the winning projects, so it is appropriate that gardener Alan Titchmarsh hosted the event.
Speaking at the ceremony the Prince said 'over the past fifty years we have witnessed the concerted fragmentation of every aspect of our lives, and of nature herself... there is an ever more urgent need for re-integration and for the restoration of harmony and balance.'
The overall UK winner was Midlothian Sure Start, which provides services for vulnerable families with very young children. The Northern Ireland winner was Little Orchids, an exceptional nursery for preschool children with special needs. The Wales winner was the Condition Management Programme, which helps those on long-term incapacity benefit to get back into work.
What links all the shortlisted projects is the transformative effect they have had on their users. Many comment that it's the personally tailored care that has allowed them to plan a future rather than becoming trapped by disability, drugs, poverty or chronic illness.
The Prince commented 'my fervent wish, as I enter my sixth decade, is that integration will in future no longer rely on heroes like these but become part of normal practice and available to all patients'.