PROJECTS: Dragon’s Heart Hospital gets shortlisted as a finalist for the HSJ Partnership Awards 2021

Following the most testing period for the healthcare sector in recent history, this year’s awards reinstate the essential role of private and third sector organisations in strengthening the healthcare system. Being shortlisted for a Partnership Award is a great celebration of the combined efforts that went into delivering Dragon’s Heart Hospital and ensuring that the best examples of partnership working are nationally recognised, learned from and upscaled where possible.

The judging panel comprised a diverse range of highly regarded figures across the NHS and wider healthcare sector. To be shortlisted as a finalist for these awards, despite tough competition from a pool of brilliant applications, is a mark of real achievement for Archus, Mott Macdonald and partners working with Cardiff and Vale University Health Board. The Dragon’s Heart Hospital team has been shortlisted based on their diligence, ambition, and the positive impact on both practitioners and patients within the health care industry.

All partners mobilised rapidly to deliver the brand new 1000-2000 bed temporary hospital and supporting infrastructure within the stadium in just four weeks – with no compromise in the standard of care, patient safety or the quality of the environment. A new way of working overcame all organisational boundaries, in a “stronger together” ethos, to deliver the second largest temporary hospital in the UK. This safeguarded the health board’s ability to care for all patients during the first wave of the Covid-19 crisis.

Shane Dineen, Director at Archus comments, “On behalf of all partners involved, we are all delighted to have been shortlisted for the Regional Covid-19 Response Partnership Award recognising the collaborative efforts and dedication of our teams to successfully deliver the Dragon’s Heart Hospital. Key to the hospital’s delivery was joint ownership, with the shared ethos from the beginning that the project was bigger than any one company. By embracing this ‘one team’ mentality and focusing on outcomes, we were able to achieve what in normal circumstances would have been impossible, delivering the hospital collaboratively, efficiently and at speed.”

Professor Jonathon Gray, Director of Innovation & Improvement, Cardiff and Vale University Health Board comments, “The hospital was a testament to a phenomenal team spirit, to bold and creative leadership, and to a coalition of partners that ensured the very highest standards were maintained in the midst of a chaotic and high-risk environment.”

HSJ editor Alastair McLellan comments: “We would like to congratulate Archus, Mott MacDonald, Q5, Hoare Lea, BDP, Welsh Rugby Union and Cardiff and Vale University Health Board on being nominated in the category of Regional Covid-19 Response Partnership Award ahead of HSJ Partnership Awards 2021. We are looking forward to welcoming them to the ceremony in June, to join us in recognising the very best collaborations and innovations in the healthcare sector. This year’s finalists are of an outstanding calibre and all of them are exceptionally dedicated to enhancing healthcare across the UK.”

The winners will be selected following a rigorous, judging stage ahead of the HSJ Partnership Awards 2021 awards ceremony. The awards evening is expected to be attended by leaders and professionals from both the NHS and private sector as well as figures from non-clinical backgrounds to celebrate innovation and collaboration in healthcare.