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Mental Health Practice Award now open for entries in the RCNi Nurse Awards 2017

Mental health nurses are invited to enter the RCNi Nurse Awards 2017 – the UK nursing profession’s highest accolade for excellence.
Susan Burns

Mental health nurses are invited to enter the RCNi Nurse Awards 2017 – the UK nursing profession’s highest accolade for excellence.


Black Country Partnership NHS Trust senior practice development nurse Susan Burns with her winning team
Picture: Mark Hakansson

The awards showcase the dedication, creativity and passion of nurses in providing high-quality patient care across the health service.

The Mental Health Practice (MHP) Award category is open to nurses working within the field of mental health who can demonstrate their initiatives and innovations have improved the mental health clinical care of service users.

Black Country Partnership NHS Trust senior practice development nurse Susan Burns was part of this year’s winning team, who designed a de-escalation procedure for staff and patients to reduce the use of restraint.

Winning advice

Ms Burns urged nurses to enter the 2017 awards and offered a spot of advice.

‘You should do it, but do commit yourself to it – I have found the whole process really validating so far,’ she said.

‘Our initiative will evolve I am sure and with new guidelines.’

Since winning, the team has been contacted by the Ministry of Justice, as well as health commissioners as far away as Geneva, expressing interest in the project.

Nurses, midwives and health visitors – as well as assistant practitioners, healthcare assistants and nursing students – will all have opportunities to enter awards across 13 categories:

  • Andrew Parker Student Nurse Award.
  • Cancer Nursing Award.
  • Child Health Award.
  • Commitment to Carers Award (sponsored by NHS England).
  • Community Nursing Award (sponsored by Superdrug).
  • Excellence in Cancer Research Award (sponsored by Cancer Research UK).
  • Innovations in your Specialty.
  • Leadership Award.
  • Learning Disability Nursing Award (sponsored by NHS England).
  • Mental Health Practice Award.
  • Nursing Older People Award.
  • Patient’s Choice (sponsored by Yakult).
  • RCN Healthcare Assistant Award (sponsored by the RCN).

Judges in the MHP category this year also recognised work by NHS Tayside’s National Services Division.

The team helped bring obsessive compulsive disorder treatment to people in Scotland, who would previously have had to travel to London for help.

Mental Health Practice specialist journal editor Colin Parish, who was on the shortlisting panel, said: ‘The RCNi Awards are always a great platform for mental health nurses to show how they are using their skills and ingenuity to bring about meaningful change for the service users they work with.’

An overall Nurse of the Year award will be chosen by the judges from the winners.

Nurses can either nominate themselves, their team or be nominated by a colleague for the awards.

The event is being held on 5 May, 2017 at the Westminster Park Plaza in London.

More information about the categories and how to enter is available at www.nurseawards.co.uk


Further information

De-escalation plans minimise use of restraint

Obsessive compulsive disorder team brings care closer

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