The winners of the CMSUK Awards 2023 have been revealed.

The annual awards were created to recognise and celebrate outstanding practice across case management and associated sectors in supporting people after life-changing injury or illness.

With a theme of Exceeding Expectations for Clients, this year’s awards highlighted excellence in client service and commitment to delivering the best possible outcomes.

Martin Hibbert, survivor of the Manchester Arena bomb and now a passionate campaigner for people living with spinal cord injury, was the inspirational guest speaker at the event, held at the London Hilton Tower Bridge.

Over 250 guests at the lunch were left in tears as he described his journey from that fateful night in May 2017, when he and his daughter Eve were the closest survivors to the suicide bomber.

Both miraculously surviving, Martin’s spinal cord was severed and he is now paralysed, and Eve continues to defy all expectations in her recovery from serious brain injury.

Martin presented the winners of the CMSUK Awards – sponsored by Regen Physio – with their accolades, which were judged by experts from across the sector, including Deborah Johnson, editor of NR Times.

The winners and runners-up were:

Catastrophic case manager of the year

Winner – Elaine Miller, Unite Professionals

Jason Chidwick, HCML

Shelley Westgate, Westgate Case Management

Clinical case manager of the year

Winner – Lisa Dunthorne, Unite Professionals

Deborah Hathaway, Independence Works

Nick Haycock, HCML

Case management supporter (internal) of the year

Winner – Alarna Benson-Green, Coastal Case Management

Rebecca Johansen, Corporé

Verity Clunies-Ross, Integrated Case Management

Case management service provider (external) of the year

Winner – PsychWorks Associates

Cyber Spider

Remedy Healthcare

Partnership initiative of the year

Winner – Corporé Major Incident Rehabilitation Service partnership

H’s journey with Coastal Case Management, Irwin Mitchell, Dorset Orthopaedic and Relimb

Independence Works, Addenbrooke’s Hospital, MTSP, Slater and Gordon, NFUM, STEPS Rehabilitation and STEPS Prosthetics

Rehabilitation Innovation of the Year

Winner – RTW Plus – ‘Understanding the invisible emotional influences on the perception of pain’

Reach Personal Injury Services – Headlight head trauma triage service

Unite Professionals – virtual rehabilitation clinic

Case Management Company of the Year (Large)

Winner – Unite Professionals

HCML

3HUB

Case Management Company of the Year (Small)

Winner – Emma Way Associates

Sue Ford, chair of CMSUK, said: “I am genuinely delighted with the resounding success of the CMSUK Awards.

“This event marks a pivotal milestone for our organisation, a moment when we unite to acknowledge and celebrate the remarkable achievements of those dedicated to the field of case management.

“It stands as a testament to the unwavering commitment and hard work of our professionals, who consistently demonstrate their dedication to improving the lives of individuals in need, serving as a true source of inspiration.

“The CMSUK Awards not only serve as a platform for recognising excellence but also provide an invaluable opportunity for networking and the exchange of best practices within our vibrant community.

“I take immense pride in our collective accomplishments and eagerly anticipate the ongoing growth and innovation that our members contribute to the field of case management.

“Congratulations to all the exceptional winners and nominees for their outstanding contributions.”

Unite Professionals - the award-winning journey so far   

 

Having won three awards at the CMSUK Awards 2023 - including Case Management Company of the Year - the reputation of Unite Professionals Ltd as one of the leading firms in the sector was confirmed further still. Here, we speak with founder and managing director Jo Evans about the ongoing growth and development of the business.

As a well-known professional within the world of neuro-rehab, Jo Evans is known both for her background in occupational therapy and her role as a case manager - the last 13 years of which have been spent as owner of Unite Professionals.

Operating from its bases in Somerset and Merseyside, its team of case managers - both associate and employed - as well as rehab coordinators, finance, BD and medical records professionals, work nationally in supporting clients after life- changing, complex injury.

Jo herself has built a strong reputation for her work in case management, and until recently was a director on the board of industry body CMSUK.

Unite Professionals is no stranger to success, with its case managers having won several awards, and the business securing a number of prestigious endorsements.

But after 13 years and counting, its success at the recent CMSUK Awards marks a new high for the business, with three award wins.

Elaine Miller was named catastrophic case manager of the year; Lisa Dunthorne won clinical case manager of the year; and Unite Professionals was named overall winner as Large Case Management Company of the Year.

“It was such fantastic recognition. Our team are brilliant, I’m super proud of them. We’ve won CMSUK awards before for their amazing work, but to be named as Case Management Company of the Year was huge recognition of everyone’s hard work,” says Jo.

“I’m not sure I’ve ever considered us a large case management company because we’ve grown organically over the years, and compared to the others on the shortlist we aren’t particularly large.

“It was a great honour to be recognised by the judges as evidencing a service to customers and clients that met the high criteria specified for this category. It is always a privilege to gain such recognition from industry colleagues.”

Jo’s journey into case management began when she was working as an OT, initially moving from a position as a clinical specialist in neurology within her NHS work to work in private practice.

Having been instructed by case managers representing clients who had sustained traumatic brain injury she decided she would like to learn more about how case management could support this client group and went about this learning through the events team at CMSUK.

“I was fascinated by the whole claim process and how case management worked alongside this being able to present clinical evidence representing the impact of the accident on the clients living and quality of life and then influence access to funded rehab pathways for the client,” says Jo.

“In coordinating, monitoring, and guiding this process it seemed to pull everything together. It was like learning a new language in many ways, but I enjoyed learning the language and process and ensuring that as a company each of us, regardless of role, understood the client journey and wishes and the part we played in supporting that.

“It really is a complex labyrinth working with clients and their needs, and putting together the solutions, ensuring funding is available to secure the way forward with a meaningful intensity of rehabilitation. But it’s a fantastic service to be part of.”

Unite Professionals was born in 2010, and has seen the creation of a strong team of talent with several of its case managers being with the firm for the majority of its time in existence.

The business is committed to funding the innovative work of both the clinical and admin teams in improving the case management service delivered.

This has included running an annual conference, which has become a must-attend date in the calendar for professional development, as well as the chance to catch up, have fun, dance and learn.

“Our case management approach has always focused on a strong ethos of peer support, regular training including reflection on relevant case law and engaging this approach has always kept us current ensuring we’re responsive and not reactive,” says Jo.

“With the development of our outcome measure tool now in its 12th year, this provides great qualitative evidence of the efficacy of the rehabilitation approach taken by the case managers.

“Our conferences focus on the fact that as case managers we are expected to understand the environment in which we work and challenge the status quo, we promote identifying evidence and advances in rehabilitation practice in order that we can deliver the ultimate service to clients and referring parties.

“We’ve been delivering our conference for 11 years now, it’s really well attended, and we’ve had some great speakers, and that continues to grow too.”

Despite the growth of Unite Professionals and its offering over the past 13 years, Jo continues to hold a caseload.

Jo explains: “For me, I love being part of each client’s journey and it is such a privilege to go into people’s homes and work so closely with them and their families to be part of the journey to map out a better future.

“Understanding each person’s priorities is absolutely key, and being on this journey with them means you see it all - the happy points and sad points, backward steps and big steps forward. Some clients have been with us for nine or ten years, which is most of the time the company has been in existence.”

Building and growing the coorperative of people at Unite Professionals, who share a vision to deliver a gold standard service, has been one of the personal highlights for Jo, and the process of adding to that continues.

“It has been a joy to share training, teaching, supervision and buddying within our team. The journey continues for us all and our clinical team are an amazing group,” says Jo.

“We’re always looking to add great new case managers to our national team. We currently have case managers with professional background in OT, physio and social work, but we would love to attract those with a nursing background too.

“Our team are at the heart of what makes us who we are - and I’m so proud of what we are delivering to customers and clients. “Our strapline really is our team motto: “Your rehabilitation, our priority.”