A group of public sector teams had reason to celebrate when Guardian Professional presented them with GC Awards for Innovation.
Every year the Awards for Innovation recognise IT projects that have contributed to the cause of better and more efficient public services. They were set up in 1996 by public sector IT specialist Kable, now a part of Guardian Professional.
In April 2008 the Overall Winner award along with the title for Best Project – Government to Business went to C-PORT, the Chemotherapy Planning Oncology Resource Tool.
Led by the National Cancer Action Team at St Thomas’ Hospital in London, C-PORT applies advanced modelling techniques to deal with chemotherapy capacity planning. It can simulate the effects of changing clinical practice, compare the variability of drug usage and resources, and helps managers to process business plans and test contingency plans.
Mark Say, editor of GC Magazine and chair of the judging panel, said: “The entries for the awards have shown there has been no flagging in the momentum to get more out of IT for public services. People in all parts of the public sector are continuing to show imagination and application in raising the bar for better services and more efficient government.”
The full list of winners is:
Best Project – Government to Government, sponsored by Steria
Winner – N3, the broadband network for the NHS
Runner-up – Kent Connects’ Portal of Portals
Best Project – Government to Citizen
Winner – Residents Online Parking Permit Renewals from the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham
Runner-up – NHS Scotland Emergency Care Summary
Best Project – Government to Business
Winner – C-PORT from the National Cancer Action Team
Runner-up – CompeteFor from the London Development Agency
The Green IT award, sponsored by HP
Winner – PC Patch Up and Power Down from Staffordshire County Council
Runner-up – Revised Strategy for Greener Printing from Lancashire County Council
Best project in delivering efficiency
Winner – The National Standard Planning Application Form from the Planning Portal team
Runner-up – Transforming JobCentre Plus Contact Centres from the Department of Work and Pensions
Shared services award, sponsored by Lockheed Martin
Winner – The JANET 5 network for higher education and research
Runner-up – tMaps from the West London Alliance
Innovator of the Year
Winner – Alastair Gilchrist, director of parking at City of Westminster Council
Runner-up – Mark Phillips, chair of the Schools Interoperability Framework Association