Small Steps Big Changes' (SSBC) Family Mentor Service has won the Early Intervention and Prevention for Children, Young People and Families Award at the prestigious 2024 HSJ Awards.
The Family Mentor Service has been operating in Aspley, Bulwell, Hyson Green and Arboretum, and St Ann’s since 2015 and is a key element of the SSBC Programme. During this time the service has been delivered by three community organisations –Homestart Nottingham, in Aspley; The Toy Library, in Bulwell; and Framework HA in Hyson Green and Arboretum, and St Ann’s. The Family Mentor Service works with families from pregnancy through to a child’s fourth birthday; supporting them through a home visiting service known as Small Steps at Home and providing free community groups and activities.
Since 2015 these three providers have delivered services to 6,200 individual children, totalling 142,600 interactions.
Karla Capstick, Director of Small Steps Big Changes, which is hosted by Nottingham CityCare, said: "It's such an honour to win a prestigious HSJ Award, in this the final year of the SSBC programme. We are immensely proud of the families supported, the new job roles and qualifications created, and the achievements of the service over the past nine years. We hope this will inspire other health and care systems to invest and focus on the importance of prevention, early intervention and babies, children and families with services like the Family Mentors.”
Health Service Journal editor Alastair McLellan said: “Year on year, I’m always so impressed by the innovation, dedication and integrity of all those who take the time to submit an entry to the HSJ Awards – and this year has been no exception, with an outstanding calibre of applicants, presenting some tough decisions and much deliberation for our judging panel.
“I extend my personal congratulations to Small Steps Big Changes who were named as the very worthy winner in the category of Early Intervention and Prevention for Children, Young People and Families. Welcome to our growing family of HSJ Awards success stories."
This year, 1,351 award entries were received across 26 categories, with 235 organisations, projects and individuals making it to the final shortlist, following two rounds of rigorous judging.
The judging panel comprised more than 200 influential and respected figures within the healthcare community. All finalists and winners were judged against five criteria; ambition; outcome; spread; value and involvement (including how well stakeholders buy-in and contribute to the project initiatives and outcomes).
For more than 44 years, the HSJ Awards have shone a light on the outstanding efforts and achievements of healthcare workers. This year's ceremony was supported by headline partner, Vodafone Business, and hosted by Dara Ó Briain. The charity partner for the 2024 HSJ Awards was NHS Charities Together.
All winners had their project synopsis featured in the HSJ Awards Programme, and on the HSJ Solutions best-practice database.
Date published: 2 December 2024
