Congratulations to all our winners and finalists in the 2009 competition (click here for a full summary including all shortlisted projects). The AHP & HS award winners were presented with their trophies by sponsors and special guest Professor Raymond Tallis at a cerbratory lunch at the Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, London on Friday 27 February 2009.

Read more on our fabulous winners or browse photos from the day......

Overall winner sponsored by NHS Employers, and category AHP winner in Innovation in patient or client services, sponsored by the Department of Health, England and the Northern Ireland office
Hilary Harris (clinical lead radiography) and Geoffrey Naisby (consultant radiologist) of the James Cook University Hospital, Middlesbrough are overall winners of the 2009 award for their invention of device, the HILINA, to speed up breast biopsies.

The judges selected this overall winner because it is already making a real difference to patient comfort by speeding up biopsy time. It’s an invention by radiographers which is likely to vastly improve the patient experience of breast biopsies in the next few years. They already have additional units in production by the hospital medical engineering department and hope very soon to be able to offer the device to other radiology departments in the UK.

The Judges special award, sponsored by Employing Allied Health Professionals and Healthcare Scientists

Jackie Stubbs (principal speech and language therapist), Diana Anderson (senior specialist dietician) and Sue Tye (occupational therapist), North East Essex PCT, for their clever device the TIM tube to help carers to thicken fluids accurately for patients with dysphagia.

The judges thought this entry was a brilliant example of creative problem-solving but it did not fit the category in which it was being judged. The judges were deeply impressed by this invention which has the potential to save the lives of many people with learning difficulties and others with dysphagia. It is series of tubes like egg-timers which show carers the exact thickness of liquids needed for individual patients who are dysphagic. Previously there were only written descriptions of the different thicknesses available. Now carers can see at a glance whether the consistency is right.