Please be aware that the 2018 Clinical Excellence Awards round will open on 13th February and close on the 12th April 2018. As before I will be happy to receive copies of your applications for national awards in order to rank them for ABCD support. The Royal College of Physicians require an early submission to them (closes 28th February) - if you wish their support please visit their website for detailed guidance on how to apply this year.
My comments which are meant to be helpful are similar to last year:
- Do try and obtain Royal College of Physicians support (or any other nominating body as appropriate) and consult their website for information about applying
- Do ask me if you wish for support in developing your application - for those who failed to obtain an award last time, you will have received feedback from ACCEA. Please consider letting me have a copy of this feedback if you want my best informed support
- Please send me a copy of your application as soon as possible in order for me to arrange your 'ranking' by ABCD - this year, as in previous years, I will convene a panel for this purpose
- I will ensure you have a 'citation' arranged for ACCEA
- Please do check if you are to submit a renewal application this year irrespective of submitting a new application - you can double check via an online at ACCEA:
you will need to put in a renewal application if:- you received your current award in the 2014 round
- your award was last renewed in 2013 (awarded in 2009, 2004, 1999)
Please remember that you must double check your renewal date!
- If you are due for a review of your award, please take it seriously - they have begun to remove awards. Ensure you emphasise your clinical roles and if for any reason, you are doing much less direct patient care than when you received your award, emphasise any management or service development work you are continuing to do, etc.
- If you are applying for a national bronze award, and say you hold 6-8 local points already, be careful because if you are successful, but then lose your bronze on review several years later, you drop to 'no award' - the message is that as long as your contributions are likely to be sustainable, then a bronze award is a worthwhile option to consider
- Apply with enthusiasm - the actual success rates, although variable between speciality, class of award, and region, are quite high - about 30% which I feel is encouraging!
I need to receive your copy of the ACCEA application or a near final version by: March 9th 2018
