At a time when health systems are under pressure to prove they can listen as well as deliver, nhs. uk is a timely lens for a story that begins with children. Little Voices, an initiative led by the Patient Experience Team at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, has been named a regional champion at the first NHS Excellence Awards. The project places pupils from Pelsall Village School at the centre of hospital service design, turning their ideas into practical improvements and showing that patient involvement can start long before adulthood.
Why this matters right now for nhs. uk and patient trust
The recognition matters because the awards are framed around work that improves care for patients and communities, not just internal performance. Little Voices won the Patient Involvement and Choice category, underscoring a shift from one-way service delivery to active co-design. The project invites pupils into the hospital to share how clinical environments feel to them, helping staff understand what makes spaces safer, calmer and more welcoming for children. That approach is not symbolic: visits are planned throughout the year, allowing children to see their suggestions translated into real service improvements.
For a health service often judged by waiting times and efficiency, this is a reminder that trust can be built through small but visible changes. The context matters even more because more than 400 entries were submitted across the Midlands in ten categories, making regional champion status a significant mark of distinction. The first NHS Excellence Awards are the only awards run by, and for, the NHS, which gives the recognition added weight inside the service itself.
What lies beneath the headline
Little Voices suggests that patient experience is most powerful when it reaches beyond surveys and formal feedback. By involving children directly, the project turns lived experience into an operational tool. That has two consequences. First, it can improve the immediate environment for young patients and families. Second, it can change the habits of staff, who are prompted to see routine spaces through a child’s perspective. In practice, that can mean better design choices, calmer interactions and more confidence among families using services.
The story also hints at a wider organisational lesson. Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust has said the programme has firmly embedded the voice of the child in the organisation, leading to meaningful service improvements and better care experiences. The initiative is also being launched at The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, suggesting the model is moving beyond a single site. That expansion matters because innovations that are easy to explain but hard to replicate are often the ones that fade. A programme built around school visits and visible service changes has a clearer path to spread.
Expert views from the NHS on service change
Garry Perry, Associate Director of Patient Voice at Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, called the recognition a proud moment for a programme that has embedded the voice of the child in the organisation. His comments point to a deeper institutional aim: improving care experiences by making patient voice a routine part of how services evolve.
Dr Jessica Sokolov, Regional Medical Director for NHS England – Midlands, said the awards celebrate outstanding work across the Midlands and that the recognised projects are making a real difference to patients and communities. Her remarks place Little Voices within a broader pattern of local teams shaping practical improvements rather than relying on abstract reform.
There is also a useful parallel in another regional champion. The North East and North Cumbria Staff Mental Health and Wellbeing Hub, delivered by the Cumbria, Northumberland and Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, won in the Valuing Our People category. Dr Richard Duggins, clinical lead at CNTW, said the hub is laying the foundations for a long-term, integrated approach to staff wellbeing and helping keep skilled staff in the workforce. Taken together, these examples show the awards are rewarding both patient-facing innovation and the conditions that make care sustainable.
Regional impact and what comes next
The first NHS Excellence Awards will now feed into a national shortlist, with winners to be announced at an awards ceremony during NHS ConfedExpo in Manchester in June 2026. That next stage gives regional champions a wider platform, but the deeper impact may lie in what others copy before then. Projects like Little Voices and the North East staff wellbeing hub show two sides of the same challenge: services improve when people feel heard, whether they are children entering a hospital or staff supporting others every day.
Across the South West, other organisations were also named regional champions, including University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust and Devon Partnership Trust. John Govett, Chairman of NHS Devon and NHS Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, said he was incredibly proud of the staff, volunteers and partners whose efforts are making a real difference to people’s lives. That mix of local pride and national progression gives the awards a practical edge.
The question now is whether more trusts will treat nhs. uk-style patient voice and staff wellbeing work as core service design, rather than side projects, before the national winners are named in June 2026.
