Barts Health NHS Trust Triumphs at Digital Preservation Awards!

Ghent, Belgium – September 16, 2024 – The global digital preservation community gathered in Ghent on Monday for the highly anticipated Digital Preservation Awards 2024, hosted by the Digital Preservation Coalition (DPC). Held every two years, the awards celebrate innovation, collaboration, and the vital work being done worldwide to safeguard digital assets for future generations. This year’s event shone a spotlight on outstanding projects completed between August 2022 and July 2024, focusing on initiatives that promote a sustainable future for digital information.

Barts Health NHS Trust won the Award for the Most Outstanding Digital Preservation Initiative in Commerce, Industry, and the Third Sector with Sandra Blake, Corporate Records Manager and Jennifer Dando, Deputy Head of Information Governance & Deputy DPO collecting the award. The competition in the category was highly competitive, with notable contenders from different sectors, including banking powerhouse HSBC and the renowned beverage company Guinness.

Barts Health NHS Trust’s work was recognised for its pioneering implementation of Arkivum’s long-term archiving and preservation solution, which ensures that clinical trial records remain accessible and usable for their entire retention period—often as long as 25 years.

The significance of Barts Health NHS Trust’s achievement extends beyond its immediate impact on clinical trial data preservation. As part of its initiative, the Trust is working to extend the service to other NHS Trusts across the UK that struggle to secure their own archiving solutions. This collaborative effort aims to preserve a broader range of healthcare research data, raising awareness and setting new standards for digital preservation in the healthcare sector.

“We are incredibly proud to receive this award, which highlights the importance of preserving critical clinical research records within the NHS. We also appreciate the judges’ validation of the work we’ve been doing at the Trust. We hope that we can continue to raise awareness of the importance of digital preservation within the NHS and wider life sciences community”

Sandra Blake, Corporate Records Manager for Barts Health NHS Trust

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For more information about the Digital Preservation Awards and a full list of finalists, please visit the Digital Preservation Coalition’s website, here.