21 August 2026
Patients, carers, community partners and staff across two Black Country NHS Trusts have had their work recognised through six shortlisted entries in a national awards programme.
The Picker Experience Network Awards (PEN) 2026 are dedicated to recognising excellence in patient experience and person-centred care.
And The Royal Wolverhampton and Walsall Healthcare NHS Trusts, which work as a Group, have had six of their initiatives shortlisted as national finalists across five award categories.
Garry Perry, Associate Director Patient Voice at the Trusts, said: “We are so proud to see the collaborative work we do to ensure our patients’ voices are at the heart of our services is being acknowledged in this way.
“Thank you to our patients and carers for continually sharing their experiences with us and allowing us to learn from them to improve our services as well as our dedicated teams of staff and community partners who help us drive change where it is needed.
“This is a significant achievement, particularly in more challenging areas such as emergency medicine and frailty, and whether we win awards or not, this is a fantastic opportunity to show the innovation that is taking place in Walsall and Wolverhampton. It also demonstrates our shared commitment to listening, learning and improving through partnership with patients, families, carers and communities.”
The shortlisted entries are:
Walsall Healthcare’s Calm Connections Clinic has been recognised in the Excellence in Personalised Care category for its trauma-informed maternity service supporting women following birth trauma, pregnancy loss and complex perinatal experiences through personalised, multidisciplinary care.
In the Joined-Up Care Experience category, Care Without Conveyance has been shortlisted for bringing senior emergency medicine decision-making into patients’ homes, reducing unnecessary hospital attendance and improving urgent care pathways.
Frailty Without Boundaries has also been recognised for creating a single, integrated frailty pathway across health, social care and voluntary sector partners, improving co-ordination, independence and outcomes for older people.
The Group’s award-winning Little Voices programme has been shortlisted in the Long-Term Improvement in Experience of Care category, recognising its sustained success in empowering children and young people to influence service design and decision-making, and its lasting impact on patient experience and organisational culture.
Two Group-wide initiatives have been recognised in the Teams Making a Difference to Experience category.
The Patient Voice Team has been shortlisted for embedding co-production, engagement and lived experience at the heart of service improvement and organisational decision-making. The Golden Thread, bringing together Patient Voice, Volunteer Services and wider engagement functions across both Trusts, has been recognised for creating a co-ordinated approach to improving experiences for patients, carers, volunteers and communities.
The PEN Awards 2026 live finals event will take place on Thursday 1 October 2026 at the University of Birmingham.