THE South Wales Argus Health and Care Awards will take place tomorrow at Chepstow Racecourse.

The event will celebrate the health and care sectors through 15 award categories that will be awarded on the night.

Dr Hilary Jones will host our special awards presentation event at the racecourse where finalists will get to celebrate their achievements.

The Research Impact Award is sponsored by Health and Care Research Wales, an organisation “supports and delivers research” in the health and care sectors.

This award recognises excellent research that has made a “real difference to people’s lives”. Whether it’s evidence that has changed practice in the NHS, public health or social care, or novel treatments that have been clinically tested and accepted, the judges want to hear about research that has made a significant and measurable impact.

Professor Jonathan Bisson, who is director of the organisation, said that sponsoring the category is an opportunity to help achieve the organisation’s chief aim.

He said: “Health and Care Research Wales’ vision is for Wales to be internationally recognised for its excellent health and social care research that has a positive impact on the health, wellbeing and prosperity of the people in Wales.

“By supporting the Research Impact award we are celebrating the work taking place in Gwent that supports this vision and thanking everyone involved.”

There are four finalists in the running for the award.

One finalist is Dr Kate Brain from the PRIME Centre Wales at the Cardiff University School of Medicine.

She is involved in Health Check, a touchscreen questionnaire completed with a trained advisor.

The community-based intervention was developed with Tenovus Cancer Care, people from Wales, and other local stakeholders, with the aim of increasing cancer awareness and encouraging lifestyle changes.

Professor Keir Lewis and Rachel Gemine from the Prince Philip Hospital, Llanelli, have been looking at the effect of smoking cessation following a diagnosis of lung cancer. Their study has been run across the UK in over 35 NHS trusts and health boards. This research has shown that quitting smoking after a diagnosis leads to improved prognosis and led to the development of a specialist smoking cessation service for patients with cancer.

Dr Louise Roberts from Cardiff University has been fundamental in producing research that looks at women who have had children adopted or removed from their care on a permanent basis.

She is involved in Barnardo’s Cymru’s Reflect, that provides one-to-one help for women who have already had a child or children taken into care.

Finally, Emma Mills from St Woolos Hospital’s Clinical Research and Innovation Centre is the technical research lead for midwifery. One of the most recent studies she has worked on trying to see if the stillbirth can be reduced by introducing interventional care.

She was instrumental in bringing the study to Gwent and stillbirth rates dropped by between 25 per cent and 50 per cent in the first year.

The winner of the award will be announced tomorrow night.

Find out more at southwalesargus.co.uk/healthandcareawards/news.