A SOFTWARE consultancy has landed a national award for helping drive efficiencies within the NHS.

ESRconnect, from Burnley, has won the inaugural HSJ Partnership Awards Best Workforce Innovation after helping NHS Trusts across the country realise £4.5million saving and 1800 working days with innovative payroll software.

The firm was set up in 2008 by father and son team Paul and Shaun Reade and now boast a national client list.

Managing Director, Shaun Reade said “We are absolutely elated and honoured to have our work with the NHS recognized in this way. Our software products are in use at NHS Trusts all over the country, and they enable users to make considerable savings of both time and money. Our NHS users report that we are currently saving the NHS around £4.5m, and in the region of 1800 days work every year.

“Our software only exists due to a collaborative approach with the NHS – they tell us the problem and we create the solution.

"Our company ethos, our approach to software design, and our products demonstrate our long-standing commitment to all our client Trusts whilst they work hard to achieve their objectives, especially during the unprecedented financial challenges they currently face.”

Alastair McLellan, Editor, HSJ, said: "The judges were extremely impressed by the winner’s commitment and passion, which delivered a product that was able to demonstrate clear value for money."

The awards saw fierce competition with over 100 entries, and from those, 12 deserving winners were decided by an expert panel of judges, all from the NHS.

The judges said: “The innovation displayed by our winners and finalists is impressive. It is also, of course, vital to the service’s sustainability and future. Faced with seemingly impossible efficiency targets, and having made every possible economy, NHS organisations need their expertise to maintain service quality within an ever-tightening budget.

"There is also little chance of the 'Five Year Forward View' becoming reality without advances developed by commercial suppliers becoming an integral part of the NHS operating model.

"The companies we celebrate are those that have accepted the challenge to help the NHS deliver during a period of intense pressure.”