RCPsych Awards 2022
Previous winners of RCPsych Awards have been speaking about the thrill of being nominated, and urging members to make sure they nominate a team or individual in 2022.
Nominations for this year’s awards close at midnight on 29 April, leaving members time to review the 18 categories, and think about the teams and individuals they’re aware of who have gone above and beyond during the last 12 months.
We want to make sure our awards are truly reflective of the breadth, diversity and talent of our membership and are encouraging entrants from right across the UK, in all of our categories, and across the world in our new Global Health Contributor category.
As previous winners urged members to take their opportunity to highlight great work, a common theme emerged – that the team or individual were not great self promoters, but were delighted to receive the recognition.
Lovely to receive the recognition
Dr Gordon Skilling, of The State Hospital, NHS Scotland, told of his team’s joy at winning Psychiatric Team of the Year 2020, for Quality Improvement (QI), saying:
“Winning the QI Team of the year award in 2020 was fantastic for The State Hospital.
“We’re often not very good at shouting about the great work our staff do, often in really challenging circumstances, so it was lovely for the team to receive this recognition from the College. I would definitely encourage people to nominate individuals and teams who they think have gone above and beyond.”
An incredible experience
Dr Chris Sharkey spoke on behalf of Grangewood Crisis Service, Western Health and Social Care Trust, who won the same award the year before, saying:
“Winning an RCPsych award was an incredible experience for our team. It was very unexpected to win, given the standard within the Royal College.
I feel we don’t celebrate the great work we do enough, and I would encourage my colleagues to support each other in applying to these prestigious awards.
It’s also a lovely and well organised day to connect with colleagues from across the UK and hear their stories.”
Encouragement to develop as a clinician
Dr Maxime Taquet spoke about the boost he received from being nominated as an individual. He won Medical Student of the Year in 2017 and Foundation Doctor of the Year in 2020.
“Winning an RCPsych award was not only a huge honour and a strong encouragement to continue to develop as a clinician, researcher, leader and innovator,” Dr Taquet said. “It was also, and foremost, an incredible opportunity to meet other people passionate about improving the mental health of patients and communities.”
A platform to showcase your work
Winning an award can also provide a platform to showcase your work. Professor Alka Ahuja from Connecting with Telehealth to Children in Hospital & Healthcare (CWTCH), Aneurin Bevan University Health Board in Wales, spoke after winning the 2020 Team of the Year award for Outstanding Commitment to Sustainability/Green Care.
“It was great receiving the 2020 Sustainability Team award award as it provided a platform to showcase our work not only nationally but also internationally,” she said.
“The recognition allowed CWTCH to share their learning with other teams and when COVID came along CWTCH was used as an exemplar to roll out video consultations across Wales and we had fantastic ongoing support from Welsh Government and the College in Wales.”
A significant morale boost
Dr Mani Krishnan, winner of the 2017 Psychiatric Communicator of the Year, and part of the Teesside Locality Mental Health Service for Older People team which won the 2018 Quality Improvement Award, said:
“The RCPsych Annual Awards are the Oscars of psychiatry in the UK.
“It is a great opportunity to share the great work done by individuals or teams and get recognised. Having won the award for psychiatric communicator of the year award few years ago gave me a significant morale boost to contribute more.
“I encourage teams to nominate as well as individuals in my trust. During the pandemic there has been a significant impact in staff morale however our colleagues are doing amazing jobs delivering care to vulnerable population.
“It's not all about winning – we got shortlisted several times and won a couple of awards. Every time we felt like a winner.”
Back to 14 April 2022 Members' update.