At a glittering award ceremony at the London Hilton Park Lane, broadcaster Emily Maitlis presented Howard Davis, the Audit Commission's PbR Benchmarking Manager, with the award for “Excellence in Healthcare Information Management” – an honour shared with the Business Intelligence initiative from North Bristol NHS Trust.

“We are very pleased to receive this recognition for what has been two or three years of our lives. I am proud of the work we did as a team, but I am most proud that this is now being used by senior managers and clinicians to influence the direction of their organisations and to focus resources where they are needed.”

IPL's Jon Evans has been the Principal Consultant and Chief Architect on the National Benchmarker Project, working with the in-house IT team, since the Payment by Results Data Assurance Framework was established at the Audit Commission in 2006. During that time, he has been instrumental in helping to define the complex benchmarking methodology that sits behind the tool as well as leading the team of IPL software engineers during the phased development programme.

“To see all our hard work recognised on a national stage is a real honour. It's been a tremendous privilege to be part of a genuine success story, and tonight's celebrations are the icing on the cake. I'm also delighted that we are sharing the honours with North Bristol NHS Trust, demonstrating just how big a part business intelligence plays in healthcare IT today.”