Clinical Excellence Awards(ACCEA) 2016 - Applying For BCS Support

Dear Colleague,
 
Clinical Excellence National Awards - 2016 Round
 
We have been informed that ACCEA will soon be opening the 2016 application round for new and renewal of national Clinical Excellence Awards in England and Wales. It is important we are in a position to support BCS members in England and Wales albeit that we are limited in the numbers we are allowed to support in each category.  Unfortunately, colleagues in Scotland and Northern Ireland are still not eligible to apply having been disadvantaged in recent years. I am asking members who wish BCS to consider supporting their nomination for a national award in 2016 to complete a CVQ and to return this to BCS by 17:00 Friday 1st April 2016. Please note that any applications received after this date will not be considered for BCS support.
 
Note that all applications for national awards must be self-nominated and submitted on-line to ACCEA. Before deciding whether to self-nominate it is worth considering the following guidance.  Firstly, local support is essential. Thus, an application for a national Bronze award (Level 9) is seldom, if ever, successful if the candidate does not already hold at least 4 local CEA points. In addition, those holding national awards are very unlikely to move up a level in less than 4 years from the start of their existing award. Finally, BCS cannot make direct nominations for platinum awards but can and will make recommendations to the Presidents of the Royal Medical Colleges.
 
Application for New Awards
 
The scheme allows the National Specialist Societies to nominate only a relatively small number of candidates and we were limited to 10 nominations for bronze, 5 for silver and 5 for gold awards in 2015. All the CVQs that are sent to us will be scored and ranked by the BCS Board, including lay representatives, in accordance with the methodologies laid out by ACCEA. The final BCS list of nominees (in rank order) will then be forwarded to the appropriate advisory body. Those being supported by BCS will be notified and you should make your Trust hospital aware of this support.
 
If you would like the Society to consider support for your award application you need to be an existing member of the BCS and must complete the CV Questionnaire and any supplementary questionnaires as appropriate. Please ensure that you emphasise any activities that you have undertaken for the Society or its Affiliated Groups, the RCP, BHF, ESC or other national or international organisations and, highlight in particular contributions that you have made since your last award.
 
NOTE: PLEASE ALSO INCLUDE THE NAMES OF 2 INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE AGREED TO WRITE A CITATION FOR YOU AND WE CAN APPROACH TO DO SO BEFORE THE ACCEA SUBMISSION DEADLINE.

Ideally, citation writers should not normally be from the same institution where you are employed. The BCS submission deadline of 17:00 Friday 1st April 2016 is likely to mean that there will only be a very short timescale for grading of submissions and completion of citations so it is imperative your proposed citation writers know that, if you are supported by BCS, they may only have a short timescale to complete the citation. Note that citations can also be submitted by an individual in support of any applicant so you may wish to ask that citations are prepared in advance. If BCS is unable to support you on this occasion, these citations can still be submitted by the citation writer, but having this linked to BCS support is preferable.
 
After completing the appropriate forms return them by email to distinctionawards@bcs.com by 17:00 Friday 1st April 2016, with the names of 2 citation writers who have agreed to support your application. Remember you will also need to submit the self-nomination form on-line directly to the ACCEA by their deadline.
 
Finally, it would be very helpful if you check that your details on the Society’s database are correct; this can be done by going to http://www.bcs.com. The RCP London is currently undertaking a similar process requiring submissions to them in the same timeframe and a number of cardiologists have been successful on the RCP list, even if they do not make the BCS shortlist (the BCS has input into the RCP rankings and works hard to ensure that cardiologists are supported through the RCP).
 
Application for Renewal of Existing National Awards
 
Members who have received a national award previously in 2012, 2007, 2002 or 1997 will be asked to submit a renewal in the 2016 round. It is possible to submit an application for both a new award and a renewal on the same ACCEA form. Members who are only applying for renewal of an existing award should treat the application with the same rigorous attention as a new application. All renewals will be assessed by ACCEA using the same criteria and need to be as highly ranked as the lowest successful new award in the same category. BCS is able to provide a citation for all renewal applications from BCS members. If you are only applying for a renewal of an existing award and would like BCS support for this please complete the appropriate forms return them by email to distinctionawards@bcs.com by 17:00 Friday 1st April 2016.
 
NOTE: PLEASE ALSO INCLUDE THE NAME OF ONE INDIVIDUAL WHO HAS AGREED TO WRITE A CITATION FOR YOU ON BEHALF OF BCS. Where possible, the citation writer should not normally be from the same institution where you are employed. Remember you will also need to submit the self-nomination form on-line directly to the ACCEA by their deadline.
 
Finally
 
I apologise for the detailed letter but I hope this will allow BCS to continue to provide the best support possible to our membership in the ACCEA applications for 2016.
 
PLEASE NOTE that at the time of writing (March 2016) there is still uncertainty about the detail of the awards round in 2016 but we are opening our process for BCS nomination now to give applicants as much time as possible to prepare their CVQ and seek nomination from the BCS.
 
This letter is being e-mailed to all BCS members so please ignore it if it does not apply to you. If you know any members of the BCS who are eligible for an award but are not aware of these arrangements please ask them to contact the Society directly through distinctionawards@bcs.com. Please also note that you must to be a current BCS member to be eligible for BCS support.
 
With kind regards
 
Yours sincerely,

Dr Sarah Clarke
President, British Cardiovascular Society
Chairman, Joint Specialty Cardiology Committee (RCP)

Download Forms
 
Form A 2016
Form B 2016
Form D 2016
Form E 2016
Form F 2016