The Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Health and Care Analytics

Practitioners working in health and care data analytics play a crucial role in delivering better outcomes for patients and the healthcare system – whether by improving waiting times and treatment or optimising care pathways.

The Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Health and Care Analytics recognises practitioners in applied healthcare data analytics who have gone the extra mile in delivering innovative improvements for the healthcare system.

It is supported by the Health Foundation, an independent charitable organisation working to build a healthier UK.

About Florence Nightingale
While known more widely for her work as a nurse, Florence Nightingale (1820–1910) was also a statistician, and the first female fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, who revolutionised nursing through her investigative statistical work and her striking use of data visualisation. The award was launched in 2020 to mark Nightingale's bicentenary year.

Read about the 2024 winners.

Criteria
The aim of the award is to celebrate the work of healthcare data analysts who have informed a substantive change that improves patient care in a healthcare system in the UK.

The award recognises projects where the bulk of work was carried out in the previous calendar year, either by teams or individuals. We welcome applications regarding ongoing projects.

Any kind of health and care organisation that provides, commissions, supports or delivers health services free at the point of care in the UK, in primary, secondary or tertiary care, or across boundaries such as health care and social care is eligible to enter. Those working in healthcare data analytics who work in conjunction with a health and care organisation free at the point of care are also eligible to enter.

Nominations will need to demonstrate how the applied analysis has brought about positive change in the delivery or planning of care and substantial improvement in patient outcomes. Entrants should describe how they meet one or more of the following main criteria:

• Evidence of an ability to structure and understand the problems faced by managers, clinicians or patients
• Identification of data sources that could be used to address the problem
• The application of appropriate and robust statistical and analytical methods to analyse data
• Careful consideration of equality, diversity and inclusion in each stage of the analysis with reference to the relevant groups 
• Evidence of sharing and openness, eg publishing code or methodology
• Effective and accessible communication of findings to decision makers and leaders
• Credit will also be given for value for money or efficiency savings; for work that goes beyond normal expectations or results from outstanding individual effort; or for overcoming obstacles.