Derby and Derbyshire announced as regional champions for Neighbourhood Health at NHS Excellence Awards
Derby and Derbyshire ICB are one of seven regional champions across the East Midlands in the NHS Excellence Awards, having won the category for Neighbourhood Health.
The Team Up team, the successful champions and a core part of the local neighbourhood model, have transformed care for people with complex needs, improved outcomes and strengthened neighbourhood resilience.
They provide proactive and reactive neighbourhood care for people unable to leave home, including home visiting, urgent community response, falls recovery and multidisciplinary care planning. It has reduced thousands of ED attendances, hospital admissions, ambulance callouts and bed days saving millions for the system each year.
Derbyshire’s Team Up model was developed over seven years using behavioural science principles to create the conditions for large scale change. Rather than relying on traditional commissioning, which can limit innovation and contribute to burnout, the programme focused on intrinsic motivation, trust and shared purpose.
Services now complete over 7,000 home visits each month, releasing around 3,500 hours of GP time. Staff feedback is exceptionally strong: 86% say it frees GP time and 93% would recommend the service. Workforce morale is outstanding, with 99% of the Home Visiting Team recommending the service.
Over the last year, Team Up partners delivered over 9,000 two hour responses and 31,000 same day urgent activities. In March 2025 alone, there were 727 two hour and 2,451 twenty four hour UCR responses, demonstrating strong community confidence.
Dr Penny Blackwell, GP, Chair and Clinical Director for Neighbourhood Health and Care at Derby and Derbyshire ICB, said: ” I am thrilled that our Team Up model has been recognised for an NHS Excellence Award. It’s a huge achievement that our system should be very proud of. Teams across Derby and Derbyshire are working incredibly hard every day to deliver care closer to home and making systems feel more joined-up. Hospital admissions for frail elderly people are decreasing due to the Team Up approach and we can see clearly the tangible benefits of neighbourhood working to people’s lives.”
The NHS Excellence Awards are the only awards run by, and for, the NHS. They recognise, celebrate and share innovative work taking place across health and care. The awards shine a light on local teams, projects and individuals who are driving improvements, with the aim of sharing learning and inspiring others to adopt successful approaches in their own areas.
All regional champions from each region will now progress to the national awards ceremony in June 2026, where winners in each category will be announced. Winners and finalists will share learning and inspire others across the NHS.
Find out more: NHS England » NHS Excellence Awards