I’m over the moon that the Healthier Fleetwood initiative has been named regional champion in a prestigious competition to mark the NHS’s 70^th birthday.

The NHS70 Parliamentary Awards, sponsored by IBM and Teva, recognise the massive contribution made by the individuals who work in and alongside the NHS.

Launched in February, it asked MPs to find and nominate those individuals or teams they thought have made the biggest improvements to health services in their constituencies across ten categories.

I nominated Healthier Fleetwood for the Healthier Communities Award after supporting the project since it was started in 2016.

Healthier Fleetwood is an amazing initiative. Its aim was to bring together all parties in our community to share, promote and develop schemes and ideas to aid residents’ health & wellbeing. Now they’ve set up their own projects giving residents the confidence to take control of their lives. They don’t say ‘stop this, give up that’ instead it’s ‘try this, get involved with’ and you’ll see the benefit – and it’s having a huge impact.

Having been named champions by senior regional NHS experts, they will now vie with other regional winners from across England for the national award, to be presented at a special ceremony in the Palace of Westminster in July.

I know that everyone in Fleetwood will share my delight and pride that Healthier Fleetwood has been named regional champion.

They are representing the thousands of staff and volunteers who work day in, day out across our area to shape, deliver and support health and care services, and we’ll all be backing them to win the national award in July.”

From more than 800 entries, senior experts in each region have chosen ten outstanding nominations, which exemplify the best of what the NHS and its partners do day in, day out.

All of the champions will be invited to the national awards ceremony, which will be held on July 4^th, the day before the NHS’s 70^th birthday.

The ceremony will be hosted by Dr Sara Kayat, NHS GP & TV Doctor best known for This Morning, Celebrity Island with Bear Grylls and GPs: Behind Closed Doors.

The regional champions will now go forward to a final round of judging by a panel including the leaders of Royal Colleges, the Unison trade union, and the Patients Association – collectively representing millions of health and care workers and patients.

Good Luck Healthier Fleetwood – I hope you go all the way to the top!