Huge congratulations to the Thistle Project Team who were announced as the overall winner of the Glasgow City Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) Staff Awards For Excellence (SAFE) at the NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHSGGC) Celebrating Success Awards, which took place on 28 May 2025.

The Thistle Project Team had already won our Innovation of the Year award at our HSCP SAFE Awards in March for its groundbreaking role delivering the UK’s first Safer Drug Consumption Facility (SDCF).

SDCFs are supervised healthcare settings where people can inject drugs, obtained elsewhere, in the presence of trained health and social care professionals in clean, hygienic environments. The service aims to reduce the negative impact that injecting outdoors has on local residents, communities and businesses, reduce the harms associated with injecting drugs on individuals and support people to access help to improve their lives.

Led by our HSCP, this project brought together a range of partners, including Glasgow City Council, City Building, NHSGGC and several others to create a service that addresses complex health and social challenges.

Through extensive consultations with lived experience reference groups and the surrounding community, the team ensured the facility was tailored to meet the unique needs of users, with the potential to significantly reduce harm and influence future legislation.

Throughout the project, all teams were led by the need to deliver the highest quality of care for potential service users, who traditionally don’t engage with standard treatment services, and suffer marginalisation and stigma.

Pat Togher, our HSCP’s Chief Officer said: “Congratulations to all involved in the development of the Thistle Safer Drug Consumption Facility. This is a clear demonstration of the benefits of partnership working, everyone bringing their own skills and knowledge to produce a service that meets the needs of the lived experience reference groups and future service users.”

Also attending from our HSCP were our SAFE Awards category winners, which included Employee of the Year, Team of the Year, Leader of the Year and Volunteer of the Year.

After the local staff awards winners from all HSCP in the Board area were completed, the NHSGGC Excellence Awards nominees and winners were announced.

Congratulations to our HSCP’s North West Primary Care Pharmacy Team – Zendesk staff, who won the Better Value Category.

This project has transformed how community pharmacies interact with GP practices. It allows them to submit their queries online instead of through time-consuming phone calls, improving response times and ensuring patient care is prioritised. It has also improved patient experience, freed up clinical capacity and brought significant cost savings.

In addition, HSCP staff were recognised in two other categories.

Stacey Kavanagh, Nurse Team Lead, South Alcohol and Drug Delivery service in Pollok was nominated in the Better Workplace category. This award recognises our staff who help make NHSGGC a better workplace, improving the culture and supporting colleagues.

The Growing Spaces Garden Volunteers at Gartnavel Royal Hospital were nominated in the Volunteer category. The award recognises people who go the extra mile contributing tirelessly and providing outstanding help and support for the benefit of others. The garden volunteers had won our HSCP’s Staff Awards Volunteer category earlier in the year.

Congratulations to all our staff. For more from the 2025 ceremony, including pictures and information on winners, categories and individual nominations, please go to the NHSGGC website.