The pioneering work has helped North West London Hospitals Trust (NWLH) – which cares for more than half a million people across Brent and Harrow – to reduce its previous £1.25million spend on elective surgery by streamlining operational procedures across the Trust.

Andrew Hawes, Director of Newton, said: "This award is testament to both NWLH and Newton's hard work and it's a great honour to be recognised by the industry.

"This achievement substantiates the value that clear information visibility brings to driving efficiencies, cost savings and better outcomes for patients. We are committed to continuing our work within the NHS to support it in meeting the current reform challenges."

Newton's specialist healthcare team was brought on board by NWLH following a successful endoscopy project to improve theatre utilisation and reduce the Trust's £100,000 spend per month on extra theatre capacity to ensure patients are treated within the 18-week government target.

Andrew explained: "By examining the Trust's existing operational procedures, we developed and implemented a rigorous approval process to ensure clear data was available to make informed decisions on allocating additional sessions.

"We were also able to increase the use of cancelled theatre lists by 25 per cent which resulted in the additional availability of 4.9 lists per week. This was achieved through a combination of improved theatre list booking processes and reducing on-the-day theatre delays.

"In partnership with the Trust's theatre and scheduling teams, led by Sue Field and Ganesh Suntharalingam, the customised IT theatre management system was developed and installed. This allows delays to be recorded, measured and prioritised, which is continuing to provide sustainability in managing the Trust's theatre operations."

Kishamer Sidhu, Director of Finance at NWLH said: "Receiving the award is a great accomplishment for the Trust as maintaining high standards of patient care has always remained our priority. Through our partnership with Newton we have been able to not only improve the capacity of our current surgery but also increase the number of patients treated by maximising the efficiency of our booking processes.

"As a result of our project with Newton's experienced healthcare team we have been able to make a significant difference to our WLI spend as well as improve the overall patient experience – a real victory for NWLH and one that has been recognised."