Winners of the PatientsVoices@RCoA Award 2025
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.
Below are the winners for 2025. The awards were presented by Jenny Westaway, Chair of PatientsVoices@RCoA, and Dr Claire Shannon, President of the RCoA, at the College's Annual Dinner, held in Belfast on 21 May 2025.
Gold Award
Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Harriet Hall and Dr Amelia Paveley
For their use of patient and public involvement and engagement in co-production of Perioperative Care for Older People undergoing Surgery (POPS) services:
The POPS team at Guy’s and St Thomas’ has led a project to develop excellent practice in involving patients in the design of perioperative services for older people. This built on traditional patient and public involvement and engagement methods, but went further to offer multiple, flexible formats in order to break down barriers to participation. This project has helped ensure that new POPS services are co-designed with those that will use them, delivering patient-centred care from their inception.
Silver Award
Drinking, Eating and Mobilising (DrEaMing)
Dr Eleanor Warwick and Ms Mindy Dawes
This initiative is a national quality improvement (QI) collaborative, coproduced with lived experience partners and a cross-specialty perioperative multidisciplinary team to support the implementation and embedding of drinking, eating and mobilising (DrEaMing) within 24 hours post-surgery into standard care. By encouraging patients to DrEaM soon after surgery, the initiative aims to reduce hospital length of stay and postoperative complications, as well as enabling patients to be an active partner in their own recovery. Eleven NHS trusts in England formed the collaborative and a key focus has been engaging with patients and lived experience partners for co-design and co-production.
Joint Bronze Award
Bradford Royal Infirmary
Dr Karen Eaves-Lai
For their paediatric surgical patient journey project:
The team created a series of videos for young patients. These describe the surgical journey all the way from admission, going to theatre, induction of anaesthesia, recovery and return to the ward. The overall goal is to show as realistically as possible the staff they will meet and what to expect.
The videos have been designed to help patients and carers feel better prepared and less anxious, reducing the need for premedication and minimising additional theatre time. They also offer prompt for discussion, encouraging children and carers to share their worries and ask questions.
Joint Bronze Award
Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
Dr Sara Mistry
For their anaesthesia team patient information project:
This project aimed to educate patients at Wythenshawe Hospital about the different members of the anaesthesia team that they may encounter during their care. The project consisted of two phases: initial research into patients’ understanding of different roles and a second phase where the findings were used to create and test patient information resources to explain each member of the team, their professional background, supervision, qualifications and how they can work together to provide excellent patient care. This project has helped the Trust ensure that it is providing clear and transparent information to patients about who is providing their care, which is essential for informed consent for treatment.