Newcastle Hospitals achieved double success at the RLDatix Awards 2026, winning both the Transforming Workforce Wellbeing and Flexibility Award and the Legacy of Impact Award.
The accolades recognised two key projects: Rostering for Workforce Wellbeing: Flexible, Fair, and Fit for the Future and the Digital Volunteers programme.
The RLDatix Awards celebrate health and care professionals and teams making a measurable difference to care quality, patient safety and workforce effectiveness. Entries are independently judged by a panel of respected leaders from across health and care, with winners recognised for demonstrating outstanding impact and excellence in improving care.
The two awards recognise our Trust’s commitment to creating a more inclusive, flexible and connected workforce experience for both colleagues and volunteers.
Through the Rostering for Workforce Wellbeing programme, Newcastle Hospitals introduced team-based rostering to improve workforce wellbeing, flexibility and fairness across 24-hour clinical services, empowering nursing staff with greater autonomy over shift patterns while maintaining safe staffing oversight.
Initially piloted across two wards and now live across 17 departments, the approach has improved work-life balance, reduced perceptions of unfairness in shift allocation and supported measurable improvements in staff wellbeing and sickness absence, informing wider adoption across the Trust and beyond.
Alongside this, the Trust’s Digital Volunteers programme integrated volunteers into its existing workforce rostering and communication systems through Loop and Optima. By moving away from paper-based rotas and informal processes, the initiative created a safer, more visible and more coordinated approach to managing volunteer activity across the organisation.
Delivered collaboratively between Volunteer Services, rostering teams, recruitment, ESR and clinical colleagues, the programme strengthened operational visibility, duty of care and day-to-day workforce coordination while remaining accessible to volunteers with varying levels of digital confidence. Volunteers felt more included as part of the wider team, staff had greater confidence in volunteer support, and patients benefited from a more reliable and consistent volunteer presence during their care.
Together, the two projects demonstrate how innovative approaches to workforce engagement can strengthen inclusion, improve experience and create lasting impact for colleagues, volunteers and patients alike.
Paul Sanders, President UK&I, RLDatix, said:
“Every day, we see incredible examples of people across health and social care making a real difference for patients, service users and colleagues. Through the RLDatix Awards, we are proud to provide a national platform to celebrate these achievements and share the stories and learning that can inspire progress across the wider health and care community. It is both an honour and a privilege to recognise and celebrate the exceptional people, teams and organisations who are helping to raise the standard of care, everywhere.”
The RLDatix Awards 2026 took place on 9 July at the Telford International Centre, bringing together more than 500 health and social care professionals from across the UK and Ireland to celebrate innovation, collaboration and excellence in improving care.
