FPH guidelines for award applications.
Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards (ACCEA) was replaced by Advisory Committee on Clinical Impact Awards. The applications for the 2024 round closed on 15 April 2024. Applicants will be notified of the outcome in mid-January 2025.
We will add the timetable for 2025 as soon as ACCIA announce it.
Reforms to the scheme
Following the 2021 consultation on reform of clinical excellence awards, and the 2022 awards around, ACCEA made significant changes to the application process, particularly in regard to the role of membership organisations:
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All citations from national nominating or membership organisations were removed; and
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Applications no longer included rankings.
Applicants are no longer expected to obtain a ranking and citation from Faculty of Public Health or other professional organisation as part of their submission. However, FPH still play an important role in supporting members of their specialty or area of practice to apply for awards by providing guidance and advice and signposting applicants to supporting resources.
The previous changes are described on the DHSC website and include:
- Re-structuring the award levels – in England, the scheme now operates as a three-level award system: National 1 (lowest), National 2 and National 3 (highest)
- Removing pro-rated awards. Those working Less Than Full Time (LTFT) will no longer have their post 2022 award payments pro-rated
- Assessing applications across five assessment domains (previously four domains):
- Delivering and developing a high-quality service
- Leadership
- Education, training and people development
- Innovation and research
- Additional national impact
- Simplifying the application process. Applications will not be made for a specific award. Instead, you will simply apply for a national award, and will receive the award that corresponds to the score given to your application form
- Removing the pensionability of awards
- Removing the renewals process. Awards will be held for a total of five years, at which point applicants need to re-apply
You can download the full outcome to the 2021 consultation here.
Who can apply?
You can apply for a national clinical impact award if you are a fully registered medical or dental practitioner on the General Dental Council (GDC) specialist list or General Medical Council (GMC) specialist list, or GP register. You need to:
- be fully registered with a Licence to Practise
- have been a permanent NHS consultant or academic GP in a permanent clinical academic role in higher education at the same level as a senior lecturer or above
You must have met both of these conditions for at least one year, on 1 April in the award year.
How and when to apply?
Notification of the 2025 round of the NCIA applications will be posted at the earliest possible date. Any applications received after the deadline has passed will not be considered. You cannot submit your application until the employer sign-off element has been completed. Ensure your employer is aware of your application and allow enough time for this to be done.
Public health specialists wishing to apply will not be able to submit additional contextual information in support of their application, but all applications are scored solely on the evidence provided in the five domains, as measured against the expectations of the job plan and any other remunerated activities.
You should find everything you need to help you on the Clinical Impact Awards: guidance collection page.
- Apply online at the ACCIA portal
- You can contact ACCIA directly: accia@dhsc.gov.uk.
- Further details the awards scheme available here: ACCIA and NCIA.
- An explanation of changes to the 2023 round.
Maximising the success of your application
When preparing your application make sure you only use and submit a copy of your application on the new 2024 form - there have been a number of significant changes to the forms since the previous rounds. To maximize your score for national award applications, it’s important to:
- Be clear about your job plan, role description and expected deliverables from your paid role.
- Give clear dates for your achievements, which must be within the last five years.
- Give measurable information such as outcome data wherever you can and quote the dates, source and relevant benchmarks.
- Explain the impact you had.
- Avoid repetition across the five domains unless the evidence shows different aspects of your work that is relevant to the domain.
- Avoid submitting evidence that is:
- Entirely narrative or alternatively only an activity ‘list’, without detailing impacts or tangible output
- Exclusively locally focused unless showing wider cascade and impact outside the locality or role remit; or
- Internationally based, without explanation of direct benefit to NHS reputation or the wider UK health economy
FPH is committed to promoting equal opportunities and diversity, and challenging discrimination. We encourage public health specialists from all backgrounds to apply for these awards.
Please contact workforce@fph.org.uk if you have any questions.
