Advancing Healthcare 2025
BAPO is proud to sponsor an award dedicated to celebrating impact and excellence in prosthetics and orthotics at the 2025 UK Advancing Healthcare Awards. This year’s shortlisted nominations have been announced.
Congratulations to Laura Barr who was the winner of the BAPO award for evidencing impact and excellence in prosthetics and orthotics. More will follow about the Advancing Healthcare Awards and Laura.
Many congratulations to Nikki, Laura, and Eileen for being shortlisted for the BAPO sponsored AHA award. Three fabulous role models for our profession. I am delighted the impact they have had has been recognised. I am looking forward to celebrating with them on May 23rd.
Dr Nicky Eddison,
BAPO Chair
The Shortlist
Eileen Morrow
Improving the prescription of dynamic contracture bracing
Over the past four years, I have led a service evaluation at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust to understand which patients receive dynamic contracture bracing, and who benefits from it. I found that orthotists and referrers were uncertain when to prescribe these braces, and that orthotists were fitting the braces inconsistently. Some orthotists advised wearing them for a vague “few hours a day” or overnight, and orthotists set the brace up with different stretch settings. This variation meant patients received mixed messages, making it harder to use the braces effectively.
To address this, I worked with my team to review existing research, create a clear and consistent wear protocol, and assess its impact. We introduced a standard guideline recommending one hour of wear per day with a defined level of stretch. Our findings showed that this approach was equally as effective. We also discovered that only 20% of patients prescribed with a dynamic contracture brace saw an improvement in their contracture, but were unable to predict these patients using routinely collected clinical data. This highlights the need for further research to better understand who benefits from bracing.
This project was achieved with no additional funding, relying on strong collaboration and creative resource use. By embedding the evaluation within routine clinical practice, the entire team remained engaged in data collection over four years, even during the COVID-19 pandemic. Service users played a key role in shaping patient information and selecting outcome measures, ensuring that the project remained patient-centred and clinically relevant.
Laura Barr
The Orthotics Evidence Portal: enhancing evidence-based practice in the UK orthotic profession
Project description: The Orthotics Evidence Portal, formerly known as DEBOP, is a unique resource designed to facilitate access to the evidence-base regarding the orthotic treatment of patients with musculoskeletal pathology or diabetic foot conditions. The Portal is the product of a 10 year effort by a group of orthotists in the UK who want to improve access to the orthotic evidence-base. Since 2014, it has enhanced evidence-based practice in the UK orthotic profession, by improving accessibility to clinically-relevant publications in order to assist clinical decision-making.
Nikki Munro
Trailblazing Leadership in Orthotics, Advancing Patient Care, Staff Development, and Service Sustainability
Nikki’s summary statement for her nomination:
Nikki has been a pioneering leader in Orthotics at NHS Greater Glasgow &Clyde (GGC) since 2016. She has developed some of
the UK’s first Advanced Practice roles for Orthotists, revolutionised patient care through ACRT (advanced clinical referral
triage), and championed staff development, creating lasting impact on both services and patients.
BAPO is pleased to share the winner of the BAPO Inspirational Innovators in Prosthetics and Orthotics Award and The Advancing Healthcare Awards Best Overall Winner Award.
“Huge congratulations to Steve and the team at Sheffield Children’s Hospital for winning the BAPO-sponsored Advancing Healthcare Award and winning the Overall Award. A first for P&O and a magnificent achievement. The project was so inspiring and shows the impact orthotic treatment can have for our patients”
Dr Nicky Eddison, BAPO Chair.
“BAPO was delighted to sponsor this award and Steve and his team’s achievements show why it’s important to celebrate their success. This groundbreaking work is changing lives which was also recognised by him winning the Overall Award. It was an absolutely joy to share this experience with him and to see the P&O profession being recognised in this way. Congratulations Steve!”
The winner was announced at The Advancing Healthcare Awards on 26th April 2024 at the Park Plaza Victoria, London.
You can view more information and take a look at photos of the day on the AHA website here
WINNER – Steve Hewitt, Spinal Clinical Specialist (Orthotist) at SCH (Sheffield Childrens Hospital), The SpineCorporation Ltd
Steve Hewitt, Spinal Clinical Specialist (Orthotist) at SCH (Sheffield Childrens Hospital), The SpineCorporation Ltd
Scoliosis management in SMA (Spinal Muscular Atrophy) patients
It was a great honor to be nominated for the Advancing Healthcare Awards, which has come about after 7 years of continued development into spinal bracing for children with SMA.
All of this could not have been possible if it wasn’t for the pioneering approach of the Neuromuscular team at Sheffield Children’s Hospital, along with the innovation and support within Spinecorporation.
This started as a highlighted need for a more unique design for this complex caseload as we envisaged the longer-term issues we may face around spinal and postural management, with what was, in essence, a new patient group. We have identified the key features within bracing that are fundamental to their treatment, and implementing my knowledge of more advanced postural corrective techniques in managing scoliosis have arrived at our current brace design.
We have been driven to produce a new treatment protocol and make it evidence-based, with early results being presented last week at the SMA world congress, and has led to a recent multicenter NHS collaboration, interest from several SMA charities, and attracting significant interest from around the UK and now internationally, as parents strive to find the best treatment options for their children.
SHORTLISTED – Eileen Morrow, Doctoral Clinical Academic Fellow, University of Oxford
Research leadership: trailblazing contributions to prosthetics and orthotics
I am honoured to be shortlisted for the BAPO prize for inspirational innovators in prosthetics and orthotics at the Advancing Healthcare Awards. This shortlisting represents a massive collective effort to advancing research in prosthetics and orthotics, and I am very grateful for each of my academic mentors and collaborators. As I continue my DPhil, I am excited for the future as I continue to develop as a researcher. Thank you for the recognition of my contributions.
SHORTLISTED – Catherine Finlayson, National Operations Manager and Prosthetist, and the team at Opcare and Crispin
Transfemoral sockets: it’s time to amputate outdated designs
Hello! I’m Catherine Finlayson, National Operations Manager and Prosthetist, for Opcare. Having graduated in 2012 from the University of Strathclyde I have gained prosthetic clinical experience in a number of centres in England. I have progressed through my career in various roles by developing leadership and management skills as well as keeping in touch with clinical practice.
Our project that was shortlisted for the Advancing Healthcare Awards focused on transfemoral socket design and technology and the utilisation of 3D printing for this patient group. Our project identified improvements both from the patient’s perspective and that of the service provider, but also in terms of environmental impact which is an area often overlooked in our industry. This, combined with the cost-effectiveness of the prototypes we developed, make it an attractive option which we hope can become the norm in our clinics.
I would like to acknowledge the rest of my team: Melisa Hallan (Clinical Lead Prosthetist – Opcare), Les Street (Senior Technician – Opcare), and Elen Parry (3D Design Engineer – Crispin) – thank you all for your combined efforts and input. I hope that we can inspire others to develop ideas and work on projects to improve the outcomes and experience for our patients.