General entry criteria

Each category has its own specific entry criteria, however please see below for general entry criteria that we will look for in your entries:

• Developing and implementing a pathway or service that involves the appropriate range of professionals and providers to deliver seamless care from first patients' contact to discharge or end of life.
• Working across and/or removing boundaries between, primary and secondary care, the NHS and social services.
• Delivering service improvements within the context of financial and resource constraints (i.e. reflecting the quality/productivity agenda).
• Empowering clinicians to develop and improve care as new evidence or therapeutic options become available
• Empowering patients, or their families/carers, to take an active role in decisions about their acute or ongoing care, working in partnership with health and social care professionals.
• Delivering desired changes in clinical behaviour (referral patterns etc).
• Reducing the variability of outcomes.
• Integrating quality and outcome indicators into the pathway and/or service.
• Using financial and cost information to deliver value for money.
• Creating an approach to service delivery that can be replicated in other services and regions.