The prestigious Medilink Awards give academia, the NHS and industry the opportunity to celebrate their ongoing commitment to world-class quality services and products which give people better options in their treatments and rehabilitation.

And, in 2017 we were shortlisted for the Patient Engagement Award.

The Healthcare Business Award in Patient Engagement recognised the work the CCG has undertaken over the past year.

The CCG recently launched a gluten free ‘top-up’ visa card pilot which gives patients across the Vale of York access to a greater choice of staple gluten free foods at the touch of a button.

The award showcased the CCG's revolutionary new scheme to improve the lives and diets of coeliac patients across the Vale of York.

The pilot, the first of its kind in the UK, gives patients the freedom to shop for their gluten free foods at over 33million retail outlets.

The CCG continues to liaise closely with Coeliac UK throughout this scheme and initial feedback from patients using the card has been overwhelmingly positive; recent figures show that 75% of those coeliac patients asked said that the card has improved the quality of their diet.