RCPsych Awards 2022 – announcing the result

The RCPsych Awards 2022 winners were revealed in an exciting event yesterday, honouring the amazing work put in by so many individuals and teams involved in mental health care.

Lifetime Achievement Award

Lord Alderdice won the Lifetime Achievement Award to mark an exceptional career which has involved huge contributions to both psychiatry and public life, including playing a significant role in the 1998 Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland.

Lord Alderdice was a consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy in Belfast, senior lecturer in psychotherapy at The Queen’s University, Belfast, and has occupied many other posts in an illustrious career including a role in the Changing Character of War Centre at Pembroke College, University of Oxford.

RCPsych President Dr Adrian James, who led this year’s judging panel, said:

“Lord Alderdice has made an extraordinary contribution to psychiatry and mental health, to politics and to world peace.

“He has had a distinguished career as a consultant psychiatrist in psychotherapy in the NHS in Northern Ireland but will be best remembered for the role he played in bringing peace to Northern Ireland and becoming the first Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

“Lord Alderdice played a pivotal role in bringing about the Good Friday agreement and has always excelled at bringing those with disparate views together for the good of people generally.”

Watch our film celebrating the working life of Lord Alderdice:

Psychiatrist of the Year

The winner of the Psychiatrist of the Year was Dr Afifa Qazi, Medical Director of Kent and Medway Social Care and NHS Partnership Trust (KMPT), who among her great work leads a partnership with the Alzheimer’s Society to address the need for timely dementia diagnosis at the trust. The judging panel noted:

“Dr Qazi has strongly advocated and championed parity of esteem for mental health in her role as Chief Medical Officer. There was a strong field of candidates this year but Dr Qazi is a worthy winner of the award.”

Other winners

Find out which individuals and teams won across all 18 categories, and why:

Back to 10 November 2022 Members' update.