Key dates for this year's Health Service Excellence Awards
Apply online
Submit an application for the Innovation in integrated care – Sláintecare category
Submit an application for the Improving patient/service user experience category
Submit an application for the Excellence in quality and patient safety category
Submit an application for the Engaging a digital solution to provide a better service category
Submit an application for the Working together for a greener health service category
The awards
The Health Service Excellence Awards is an opportunity to showcase and celebrate examples of the great work that happens every day across our health service. The awards also promote shared learning for other teams through our awards success stories.
Each year we look for projects that make a real and lasting difference to our health and social services.
Your project could be:
- improving access for patients
- delivering a higher quality of care to patients
- promoting pride among staff about our services
The awards are open to all staff (HSE and non-HSE) working in clinical/Non Clinical areas of the the public health system, including:
- Hospitals
- Primary care services
- Community services
- Social care services
- Voluntary sector services
2025 award categories
There are 5 award categories in total. Please complete an application form for each category you wish to enter.
Projects can be entered in a maximum of 2 categories. There will be 1 award winner in each category.
The 5 award categories are:
- Innovation in integrated care – Sláintecare
- Improving patient/service user experience
- Excellence in quality and patient safety
- Engaging a digital solution to provide a better service
- Working together for a greener health service
Innovation in integrated care - Sláintecare
Show how your project has used innovative thinking and has made an improvement to a service in line with the delivery of Sláintecare - the strategy for improving Ireland's healthcare system objectives.
The award will favour projects that deliver patient-centred integrated care and that implement a solution to make things better while demonstrating innovative practices and systems.
Your project should deliver enhanced service provision using a new concept/process, with identifiable improvements.
Innovation in integrated care – Sláintecare application form
Improving patient/service user experience
Show how changes or initiatives that your project introduced resulted in improvements in patient’s/service user experience of our services.
This category is for projects that demonstrate how a service was improved, and/or projects that enabled staff to improve a service. This could include improved patient access or improved information for patients. Your entry should also identify the transferability of this improvement and how this initiative may have had other benefits. Other benefits include better use of resources, better communications, better access to information and better cooperation between services.
Improving patient/service user experience application form
Excellence in quality and patient safety
Show how your project made things better and improved the quality and patient safety for the patient/service user/client.
Your project should identify quality and patient safety priorities. It should deliver measurable improvements and more targeted services that meet the needs of patients/service users/clients. Show how your project is based on stakeholder engagement and partnerships with colleagues and patients/service users/clients.
Show how your project is patient/service user/client-centred and involves patients/service users/clients in its design, development and evaluation. Demonstrate how the project could be transferable to other healthcare settings.
Excellence in quality and patient safety application form
Engaging a digital solution to provide a better service
Describe how your project utilised a digital solution in order to improve a process in your area.
Your project should identify how the introduction of a digital solution saves on resources and provides a more efficient and effective result. Describe the benefits achieved by introducing this project. Identify how your project enabled teams to work together to share knowledge and experience, solve problems and make decisions. Describe how it positively affected service provision and improved links across services.
Show how it enhanced patient/service user/client services planning and overall operational effectiveness.
Engaging a digital solution to provide a better service application form
Working together for a greener health service
Show how your project demonstrates teamwork and collaboration to ensure we are providing a more sustainable health service.
Your project should demonstrate how you are working together to make improvements in 1 or more of the 6 priority areas in the HSE Climate Action Strategy 2023 – 2050.
Demonstrate how your team used an integrative approach and worked with others in order to realise this project. This can be in a hospital, community or corporate setting. It can also be an application from a green team or energy team. The project should show how you measured your improvements and should be transferable to other facilities.
Working together for a greener health service application form
Key Dates
- Applications are open from Thursday 12 June until midnight on Thursday 17 July 2025
- Shortlisted entries will be notified in September 2025
- The Health Service Excellence Awards event will be held in December 2025