Winners of RCPsych Awards 2011 announced

Embargoed until 16 November 2011

The nine winners of the 3rd annual RCPsych Awards have been announced at a prestigious ceremony at the Royal Society of Medicine.

The awards mark the highest level of achievement within psychiatry, and are designed to recognise and reward excellent practice in the field of mental health.

The winners of the RCPsych Awards 2011 are:

• Core Psychiatric Trainee of the Year – Dr Charlotte Allan, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust
• Advanced Psychiatric Trainee of the Year – Dr Kamran Ahmed, South London & Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust
• Psychiatric Trainer of the Year – Dr James Warner, Central & North West London NHS Foundation Trust
• Public Educator of the Year – Dr Peter Byrne, Newham University Hospital NHS Trust
• Mental Health Services Provider of the Year – Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust
• Psychiatric Team of the Year – Family Drug & Alcohol Court Intervention Team, Tavistock and Portman NHS Foundation Trust
• Medical Manager/Leader of the Year – Dr Angus Bell, Tees, Esk & Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust
• Psychiatrist of the Year – Dr Claire Lawton, Cambridgeshire & Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust
• Lifetime Achievement Award – Professor Hamid Ghodse CBE FRCPsych

The awards ceremony, held on 15 November, was hosted by actress and writer Maureen Lipman.

Professor Sue Bailey, President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, said: “Through the RCPsych Awards, we continue to bring much-needed national recognition to mental health professionals who are making a real difference to the lives of service users and carers. This is especially important in this time of economic uncertainty and NHS reform. The entries we received this year were simply outstanding, and our judging panels deliberated long and hard to draw up the shortlists. Huge congratulations must go not only to the winners, but also those exceptional teams and individuals who were shortlisted in each category.”

Professor Bailey paid a special tribute to Professor Hamid Ghodse, who was presented with the 2011 RCPsych Lifetime Achievement Award. Professor Bailey said: “Hamid has worked in the field of addictions, mental health policy and medical education for more than 35 years, and is without doubt one of the world’s leading experts in drug control. In 1993, he became the first psychiatrist to be appointed President of the UN International Narcotics Control Board and has since been re-elected on a record-making nine occasions. Over the years the College has benefitted greatly from the talents of this exceptionally gifted man, and he is a very worthy winner of our 2011 Lifetime Achievement Award.”

Nominations for the RCPsych Awards 2012 will open in January.

Note to editors:

The RCPsych Awards 2011 were generously sponsored by:  St Andrew’s Healthcare  Cambridge University Press  Oxford University Press  Wiley-Blackwell