Newry clinics honoured at inaugural Private Healthcare Excellence Awards

Gentle Dental & Implant Clinic won both Dental Practice of the Year and Excellence in Patient Care in the Cosmetic Dental category, while Dr Finbar’s Skin Clinic won Dermatology Clinic of the Year, and Newry Private Clinic won Medical Clinic of the Year.

The local clinics fought off competition from healthcare providers from across the island of Ireland, with winners decided by an esteemed panel of independent medical and business professionals who sat on the judging panel, chaired by Dr Tom Black.

The Awards recognised the exceptional clinics, practitioners, service providers and private hospitals providing outstanding care throughout Northern Ireland and the Republic.

The Private Healthcare Excellence Awards were founded by one of Northern Ireland’s leading NHS GPs and owner of two private health clinics, Dr Carla Devlin and Sarah Weir, Managing Director of Weir Events, with expert guidance from clinical advisor Dr Jenny Addley.

Dr Devlin commented; “We set up the Awards to facilitate collaborative, cross border shared learning opportunities, and help shine a light on practices and individuals who are delivering outstanding care and sharing improved medical knowledge North and South of Ireland.

Other winners on the night included Dr Patrick Campbell for Excellence in Female Healthcare and Gentle Dental & Implant Clinic in Newry.

The judging panel was made up of healthcare professionals and leaders within their respective fields including: Professor Ken Addley OBE MD, Dr Tom Black FRCGP, Dr Tham, Professor Rita Devlin, Mark Taylor, Dr Nick Young, Dr Aideen Keaney, and Dr Joe McEnhill. Also on the panel from the health and business sector was Amy Kelly, Chief Operating Officer at Crohn’s & Colitis Ireland; Suzi Murtagh, Principal Product Leader at Allstate and John Healy OBE, Chair at Invest NI.

Chair of the panel, Dr Tom Black FRCGP says it was an educational opportunity for all in the industry to learn about innovations, services and facilities for even more collaboration in the future.

“From reading through the entries to meeting with our peers in the room during the awards ceremony, there was a clear enthusiasm to progress and build the private healthcare sector as one across the island of Ireland.

“As we have witnessed throughout this process and for many years previous, there should never be borders when it comes to access to healthcare, and all of our finalists and winners tonight have shown their commitment to working with their local NHS and HSE colleagues to provide a robust service that is driven by patient care.”

Sarah Weir, MD at Weir events added; “On behalf of myself and fellow co-founder, I would like to say a huge congratulations to all of our finalists, highly commended and winners from Saturday night. We are delighted to highlight their professionalism and passion for their services and patients and are proud to bring the incredible care they bring to millions of patients each year into focus.

“We would also like to extend our thanks to all of our event partners who have helped us make the Private Healthcare Excellence Awards such a success in its inaugural year.”