Our Centres of Excellence Awards

The awards are judged using information gathered during our routine audits of neuromuscular services by neuromuscular health professionals and people with lived experience of neuromuscular conditions. Our audits review a range of case studies, information, examples of best practice, organisation and access to neuromuscular services.

The 2023 audit was overseen by our Service Development Committee, chaired by Professor Deirdre Kelly CBE, and an independent Sub-committee, chaired by retired consultant paediatrician Dr Helen Roper.

As well as rewarding best practice, our Centre of Excellence awards help us improve care and support for people living with muscular wasting and weakening conditions. Specifically, the awards:

• Recognise centres that provide best practice specialist neuromuscular clinical care
• Gather details about neuromuscular services at individual neuromuscular centres
• Use the information gathered in the audits to provide a benchmark of neuromuscular services across all participating centres
• Provide information to help individual neuromuscular centres make the case for NHS investment in their services

We have carried out four audits of neuromuscular centres for the awards in 2012, 2015, 2018 and 2023. The larger gap between the 2018 and 2023 audits was due to the impact of COVID-19.

We welcome the views of people living with or caring for an adult or child with a muscle wasting condition. As part of every audit, we run a survey to gather feedback from people with lived experience to help us get a fuller picture of the services provided by neuromuscular centres.

Yes, there are two categories of award, each with a subcategory that rewards excellence in research.

• Centre of Clinical Excellence with Research
• Centre of Clinical Excellence

For these awards, centres must demonstrate, with evidence, how they fully meet most of the audit criteria, including aspects of clinical practice, clinical management, organisational management, engagement with service users, engagement with other health services and professional networks, and support for clinical research.

• Centre Pursuing Clinical Excellence with Research
• Centre Pursuing Clinical Excellence

The ‘Centre Pursuing Clinical Excellence’ status is given to centres that cannot fully meet all the criteria but can demonstrate a high level of clinical achievement and ongoing commitment to developing their centre. These centres are rewarded for delivering particularly high standards of services.

The extra ‘research’ status is given to centres which, in addition to all aspects of service delivery, also produce high-quality clinical research, including the running of clinical trials. Centres awarded ‘research’ status must contribute to clinical research into neuromuscular conditions above and beyond the submission of routine data to clinical networks and registries. They must also participate in competitive research grants and research projects.

The following centres have successfully received the Centre of Excellence or Centre Pursuing Excellence status after the July – November 2023 audit.

Muscular Dystrophy UK Centre of Clinical Excellence with Research

1. Neuromuscular Team, Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool
2. Atkinson Morley Neuromuscular Centre, St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London
3. Birmingham Heartlands Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
4. Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust
5. Evelina London Children’s Hospital, Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London
6. The Neuromuscular Service at Leeds Children’s Hospital, The Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust
7. North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol
8. Oxford Muscle Service, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
9. Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
10. Neuromuscular Team, Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield
11. Academic Neuromuscular Disorders Unit, Royal Hallamshire Hospital, Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
12. The John Walton Muscular Dystrophy Research Centre, The Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
13. Greater Manchester Muscle Disease Unit, Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, Salford
14. Neuromuscular at Oswestry (NEMO), The Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Oswestry
15. The Dubowitz Neuromuscular Centre, UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children NHS Foundation Trust, London
16. The Queen Square Centre for Neuromuscular Diseases, the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London

Muscular Dystrophy UK Centre of Clinical Excellence

1. Southampton Children’s Hospital, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust
2. The Wessex Neurological Centre, University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust

Muscular Dystrophy UK Centre Pursuing Clinical Excellence with Research

1. Royal Preston Paediatric Neuromuscular Service, Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Preston
2. The Neuromuscular Team, The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust, Liverpool
3. Regional Neuromuscular Service – Northern Ireland, Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, Belfast

Muscular Dystrophy UK Centre Pursuing Clinical Excellence

1. Nottingham Adult Neuromuscular Team, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust
2. Addenbrooke’s Paediatric Neuromuscular Service, Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
3. University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust, Plymouth

The list of neuromuscular centres in the UK that we audit is not exhaustive. Some centres choose not to take part in the audit, and others provide very good quality care but narrowly miss out on some of the Centre of Excellence criteria. A full list of neuromuscular services across the UK can be found here.

Why have no centres in Scotland and Wales received an award?

We welcome applications from all centres across the UK. So far, centres in Scotland and Wales have not yet applied to receive an award. We appreciate that not all neuromuscular centres have the time and capacity to complete the application process.

For more information on our Centre of Excellence awards and how your centre can enter, please contact our dedicated team at centres@musculardystrophyuk.org.