The PatientsVoices@RCoA Award recognises innovative projects and initiatives which have made a tangible improvement to patients’ experience of anaesthesia and perioperative care. The award is designed and managed by members of PatientsVoices@RCoA, a group of diverse people who support, advise and influence the College by providing patients’ perspectives on its activities.

Award criteria

Applications will be judged based on how well a project meets the criteria below.

Aims and objectives

  • Describe the problem that the initiative aimed to address.
  • Describe the impact or improvement which you anticipated.

Involvement and partnership

  • Describe how you involved patients at different stages of the initiative.
  • Describe any other stakeholders you involved in the design and delivery the initiative.

Communication and dissemination

  • Describe how patients and other stakeholders have been kept informed throughout the life of the project.
  • Describe how best practice and learning from the initiative were shared/will be shared within your organisation and other NHS organisations.

Impact and evaluation

  • Explain how the initiative has made a difference to patients’ experience of anaesthesia and/or perioperative care.
  • Provide qualitative and/or quantitative evidence of the impact of the initiative on patients.

Eligibility

The award is open to individual anaesthetists, groups of anaesthetists, anaesthetic teams or anaesthetic departments.

Prizes and award ceremony

A scoring system based on the above criteria will be used to identify the top three scoring projects which will form the shortlist. The shortlisted entries will be notified in February 2025.

The three shortlisted projects will be eligible for gold, silver and bronze based on how well they score against the criteria. Winners of each award will be announced at the College's Annual Dinner to be held on 21 May 2025 as part of the Anaesthesia 2025 conference in Belfast. Up to two award recipients for each shortlisted entry will be invited to attend the Award Dinner for free and will be offered hotel accommodation for one night by the College. All representatives of the shortlisted projects will be offered a 20% discount on the Anaesthesia 2025 delegate fee.

Please note that award recipients will need to arrange and pay for their own travel to the dinner.

How to apply and deadline for application

  • Applications must be submitted through the online portal.
  • Applications submitted via email or post will not be considered.
  • Deadline for applications for the 2025 awards is midnight on 17 November 2024. 

If you have any questions about the award or would like to discuss whether your project is eligible or not please email patientsvoices@rcoa.ac.uk.