DocRoom won the European Social Services Awards in the Research Project category. At the award ceremony in Málaga, the health research program was lauded by Lucia Dal Negro. The winner’s plaque was received by Dr. Sándor Békási as the representative of the program, who shared details about the digital health research activities at a panel discussion on cross-sector collaboration.

This year, programs representing social innovation were awarded at the European Social Services Awards competition. Among the shortlisted candidates, the final result was based on the professional jury’s scoring and the audience’s votes: this led to the winning of DocRoom in one of the 6 categories. The list of winners can be found here.

At the panel discussion following the awards ceremony, the participants emphasized the importance of cooperation between sectors. Marian O’Rourke, Director of Regulation and Standards at the Northern Ireland Social Care Council, highlighted the need for training and skill development in the social area, while Patricia Luís, Community Development Worker at the Portuguese Aga-Khan Foundation, presented the methodology of mediating between employers and employees in need.

“Digital healthcare solutions and telemedicine in social institutions are not only opening another access option for homeless people but also an opportunity to completely rethink the integration of social and healthcare services”, emphasized Dr. Sándor Békási, Head of Research at DocRoom, as the third participant in the panel discussion. “Time has passed for fragmented services. In quality care, client-centered thinking is becoming increasingly important, in which case the interests of the patients should be principal, and this can only be done by simultaneously applying social and health aspects in a holistic manner”, he added.

The European Social Services Award is a significant recognition for DocRoom in the field of health research related to people experiencing homelessness and praises the hard work of all staff members of the program. We would also like to thank the supporters for the valuable votes that helped the program win the award.