National Clinical Impact Awards – 2022 round

The Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards (ACCEA) has been rebranded to the Advisory Committee on Clinical Impact Awards (ACCIA) and a new scheme has been rolled out.

Applications are now open for the new Clinical Impact Awards. Please send your application to cearcs@rcseng.ac.uk.

The new name reflects to applicants and scorers that the primary focus of the awards is the output of activities rather than undertaking activities in the absence of describing their impact and results.

The 2022 application process also follows a different format to previous years. The character limit on the main form has increased to 2,000 characters and the additional forms for evidence have been removed so you only need to submit one form for scoring.

Key dates for applicants

• Sunday 15 May: Deadline for submitting applications to RCS England or the Faculty of Dental Surgery requesting support. Please submit your application by 6pm to cearcs@rcseng.ac.uk. 
• Wednesday 15 June: Deadline for those successful applicants to confirm to RCS England or the FDS that you wish to choose us as your nominating organisation. You may apply to more than one nominating body, but ACCIA will only allow you to be supported by one.
• Wednesday 22 June: Deadline for submitting your application to ACCIA and for citations from supporting organisations to be uploaded. You must upload your own application to the ACCIA site by 4pm on this date, at which point we can upload your citation. 

Changes to the new scheme

Changes to the scheme include:

• Increased number of awards. Once the transition process for existing national CEA award holders is over, there will be up to 600 awards granted annually in England (current level is 300). National and local awards will also be held concurrently.
• Restructured award levels. In England, the new scheme now operates as a three-level award system: National 1 (lowest), National 2 and National 3 (highest).
• Refreshed assessment domains. The assessment domains have been revised to combine both Delivering and Developing Service into a single new domain (Domain 1). Three domains (Domains 2, 3 and 4 have been renumbered and their emphases amended) and a new fifth domain has been introduced to allow applicants to include evidence of national impact from other unremunerated activities or where they have delivered impact over and above expectations.
• Simplified application process. A single-level application process has been introduced such that applicants no longer apply for an award at a certain level. This enables applicants to attain higher level awards on first application based upon the score attained.
• Removed pro-rated awards. Those working Less Than Full Time (LTFT) will no longer have their post-2022 award payments pro-rated.
• Removed the renewals process. The renewals process has been removed and the new award will be held for a total of five years, after which applicants need to re-apply.
• Removed the pensionability of awards. National Clinical Impact Awards are no longer pensionable or consolidated.
• Simplified process for employers. Employers will now only need to indicate their support or lack thereof for an application and will be required to provide a citation for each applicant. Employer scoring and ranking are no longer required.

For further information, please review the ACCIA applicant’s guidance.

The deadline to submit your final application to the ACCIA is 5pm on Wednesday 22 June 2022. As with previous years, the responsibility for the online submission of the application rests firmly with the applicant.

Further ACCIA guidance is expected to be made available on their website in line with the opening date.

If you are likely to move employer or retire in the next 18 months, please ask the ACCIA for their advice. Any enquiries can be made directly to ACCIA by email.

The College and the Faculty are registered as national nominating organisations. We will release further information about the new process as we receive further guidance from the ACCIA. You do not need to be a member of RCS England or the FDS to be eligible for support.

This page will be updated as further information about the scheme is released.