Clinical Impact Awards (ACCIA)
2026 Clinical Impact Awards applications open on 1 April and close on 20 May.
If you're thinking of applying for an award in 2026, please read our guidance below.
The awards – which are overseen by the Advisory Committee on Clinical Impact Awards (ACCIA) – reward consultants or academic GPs 外网天堂 and Wales who deliver national impact above the expectations of their job role or other paid work.
Due to changes in the application process made in 2023, the College no longer ranks applications or submits supporting citations. You can read more about this change on the .
The College will still provide encouragement and advice for members who wish to apply for an award. Please read on for further details about applying for an award and guidance on how to improve the quality of your application.
In line with our College values and our Equality Action Plan, we’re encouraging nominations from members of all backgrounds, particularly female doctors and those from a minoritised ethnic background.
If you apply, you need to give evidence of impact across the following five domains:
- Delivering and developing a high-quality service
- Leadership
- Education, training and people development
- Innovation and research
- Other areas of national impact, with specific reference to NHS priorities, where relevant.
In all of the domains, you should consider providing evidence of national impact relating to equality, diversity and inclusion.
We would love to see a high number of applications from our members and we wish all those applying for an award the very best of luck.
Timetable
- 1 April 2026 - nominations open
- 20 May (5pm) - nominations close
- Jan-Feb 2027 - outcome sent to applicants
- Jan-Feb 2027 - appeals window open
Application guidance
Please consult ACCIA’s for applicants for further guidance on completing your application. You can also of ACCIA's webinar for applicants. from those successful in 2022 are also available for you to consult.
When completing your application, please consult this checklist to ensure you're maximising your chances of success:
- Have you dated all evidence?
- Have you ensured that your job plan is clear and you've set out your role description and the expected deliverables from your paid role?
- Have you included dated evidence from within the last five years only?
- Have you described the outputs and impacts on the NHS of your national and/or international work?
- Have you described the wider uptake of innovative work and research and how it has changed practice more widely?
- Have you included comparative benchmarking of outputs against national standards?
- Have you made sure to explain all acronyms and abbreviations or spelled them out in full on the first use?
- Have you avoided repetition across the five domains?
Ensure that you avoid including evidence which is:
- entirely narrative or only an activity list, without detailing impacts or tangible output
- undated, or over five years old
- exclusively locally focused, unless it shows a wider cascade and impact outside your locality or local remit
- internationally based, without explanation of the direct benefit to NHS reputation or the wider UK health economy
- an external source - assessors will not look at external sources such as URLs or reference links
- unclear to someone outside psychiatry or a lay member
Please contact the Awards Administrator at awards@rcpsych.ac.uk if you have any questions.
You can also contact the ACCIA Secretariat directly at accia@dhsc.gov.uk.