Brent Children’s Health Inequalities team shortlisted for prestigious HSJ Award

A Brent healthcare team has been recognised on the national stage for its work tackling childhood asthma inequalities.

The Brent Health Matters Health Inequalities team has been shortlisted for a 2025 HSJ Award in the category Reducing Inequalities and Improving Outcomes for Children and Young People. The HSJ Awards are one of the most respected accolades in UK healthcare, celebrating outstanding projects and innovations that improve patient care and health outcomes.

The team’s nomination highlights the success of the Asthma Inequalities Programme, launched in June 2024 to address Brent’s long-standing asthma crisis. Brent has one of the highest rates of childhood asthma A&E visits in North West London, with many children living in the most deprived areas and facing barriers such as poor housing, language differences, and limited access to appropriate care.

Instead of relying on families to seek help after a crisis, the programme uses data to find children most at risk and works with communities to create accessible, multilingual asthma education resources. A key part of the work is the recruitment and training of Asthma Community Coaches—trusted local residents who provide practical support for families, tackle asthma myths and miscommunication, and help improve confidence in asthma self-management.

The team continues to collaborate with families, healthcare professionals, and community partners to build on existing work and ensure the programme is sustainable. They have also been using quality improvement tools and methodologies to support their changes, with their learning and progress set to be shared on the LifeQI platform once completed.

This proactive approach has already shown impact: in under a year, A&E attendances for childhood asthma in Brent dropped by over 30% in March 2025 compared to the previous year. Families report feeling more confident in managing asthma, and health professionals now have clearer pathways and better tools to support children.

Bethan Almeida, Senior Nurse, Health Inequalities team, Brent said:

“This nomination reflects the voices, concerns, and needs of Brent’s communities being built into every step of our work. Our priority is sustainability – creating solutions that will last and continue to make a difference. It’s also recognition for all the services, volunteers, and partners who are part of, support, or work with Brent Health Matters, and it truly reflects how proactive everyone has been in tackling the problems and gaps our communities face. We feel deeply honoured to see this commitment recognised on a national stage.”

The approach is attracting attention beyond Brent, with plans for other boroughs to adopt the model. The team’s work is also shaping national best practice through partnerships with the NHS and asthma charities.

Speaking about the shortlisting, Kim Lewis, Head of Clinical Services, Brent Health Matters CYP team said:

"We are proud to be recognised for our work with communities to make asthma care fairer, more accessible, and more effective. This is about giving every child, no matter their background, the best chance of a healthy future."

The winners of the 2025 HSJ Awards will be announced later this year.