National Clinical Impact Award

Last updated

National Clinical Impact Awards are awarded within the English National Health Service to consultants and academic GPs who perform 'over and above' the standard expected of their role. In January 2022 reforms were announced. There will be more awards but at lower levels. There are 3 levels rather than 4. They will still run for 5 years. There will be up to 600 awards granted each year with 70 national 3 awards worth £40,000 per year, 200 national 2 at £30,000 per year and 330 national 1 awards at £20,000 per year. For the first time those who work less than full time, mostly women, will get the full value instead of pro-rata. Local award schemes, managed by individual employers, are not affected. [1]

Contents

The Clinical Excellence Awards scheme was established in 2003, which superseded the old Merit system that was established in 1948 with the inception of the NHS. There was a similar scheme in the NHS in Northern Ireland, but there has been no award scheme run for several years. [2] In the Welsh NHS there are local commitment awards for consultants and a parallel national clinical impact award scheme. Wales has an additional National 0 award level to that in England, valued at £10,000 a year also for 5 years. In Scotland there is no longer a similar scheme. The prior scheme was run by the Scottish Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards. The schemes are intended to reward consultants who deliver a national impact over and above the expectations of their paid roles, thus showing commitment to the NHS.

Administration

The administration of the scheme nationally is in the hands of the Advisory Committee on Clinical Impact Awards. There is a small DHSC Secretariat with the governance of the scheme overseen by a Chair and national Medical Director, both of whom are Public Ministerial Appointees. Since 2018 the Chair has been Dr Stuart Dollow and since 2020 the Medical Director has been Professor Kevin Davies. Local awards are administered solely by local NHS Trusts and not at any national level. There are 12 levels of award. Levels 1-8 are awarded locally in various formats by employing NHS Trusts, and levels 10-12 (silver, gold and platinum hereafter) were awarded nationally. These national awards have been replaced by the National 1 to 3 awards. Level 9 awards previously could be awarded locally by Trusts with the same value as a national bronze award, which was awarded nationally. In 2016-17 awards were worth £2,986 for level one, £35,832 for bronze, £47,110 for silver, £58,888 for gold and £76,554 for platinum annually. Payments for these awards were pensionable until 2018 for local awards and 2022 for national awards. Consultants have to reapply after 5 years. 25,300 consultants in England and Wales (54%) received a local or national excellence award in 2016-17. Radical changes or abolition were repeatedly suggested as part of the consultant contract negotiations from 2010 and in 2018 radical changes to the local scheme were agreed between NHS Employers and the British Medical Association. New points are now time limited for between one and three years, the award will not be pensionable and will paid annually by lump sum. Legacy awards are unchanged if awarded prior to 2018. These changes did not apply to the national scheme. [3] The national scheme was itself reformed in 2022 to change from the 4 level Bronze to Platinum scheme, awarding 300 pensionable awards a year to the National 1-3 non pensionable scheme granting up to 600 awards of a lower value, to increase opportunity and diversity of the recipients.

Applicants are assessed in five areas:

The nature of the scheme is balanced across evidence domains to give equal opportunities to reward academic and non academic clinicians being benchmarked against the expectations of their paid job plan. [4]

The coalition government conducted a review of the scheme whose report was published in 2012.

History

The earlier scheme of distinction awards was established at the foundation of the NHS in 1948 as part of Aneurin Bevan's efforts to win support from doctors by "stuffing their mouths with gold". [5]

The Royal Commission on the National Health Service described the system of distinction awards in 1979. Awards were made on the advice of the Advisory Committee on Distinction, a predominantly professional body traditionally headed by a distinguished doctor. The total value of awards was about £20m per annum, 10% of total consultant remuneration. About half of all consultants received an award during their careers. At any one time, just over a third were award holders. There were four levels of award, with annual values ranging from £2,664 for level C with 3421 beneficiaries to £11,880 for A+ awards of which there were 140. Awards were then secret, and there was criticism that most went to consultants in teaching hospitals and the more glamorous specialities. [6]

In 2015-16 £157 million was paid to 2,948 consultants in England and Wales. In 2016-17 £147 million was paid to 2,779 consultants. [7] 300 awards were made in 2017.

In 2019 the Care Quality Commission suggested that awards should be withheld from doctors at trusts in special measures. [8] This was not a reflection of an official CQC position but it was a question to Main Committee who did not implement this to not disincentivise consultants working hard to improve performance at poor performing Trusts.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Department of Health and Social Care</span> Ministerial department of the UK Government

The Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for government policy on health and adult social care matters in England, along with a few elements of the same matters which are not otherwise devolved to the Scottish Government, Welsh Government or Northern Ireland Executive. It oversees the English National Health Service (NHS). The department is led by the secretary of state for health and social care with three ministers of state and three parliamentary under-secretaries of state.

In the United Kingdom, junior doctors are qualified medical practitioners working whilst engaged in postgraduate training. The period of being a junior doctor starts when they qualify as a medical practitioner following graduation with a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery degree and start the UK Foundation Programme, it culminates in a post as a consultant, a general practitioner (GP), or some other non-training post, such as a specialty doctor or associate specialist post.

Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is a British public sector healthcare provider located in Cambridge, England. It was established on 4 November 1992 as Addenbrooke's National Health Service Trust, and authorised as an NHS foundation trust under its current name on 1 July 2004.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Countess of Chester Hospital</span> Hospital in England

Countess of Chester Hospital is the main NHS hospital for the city of Chester and its surrounding area. It currently has 625 beds, general medical departments and a 24-hour accident and emergency unit. It is managed by the Countess of Chester Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, one of the first Foundation Trusts in the UK, formed in 2004. Cardiac rehabilitation services at the hospital are provided by Cheshire and Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust.

Professor Sir Bruce Edward Keogh, KBE, FMedSci, FRCS, FRCP is a Rhodesian-born British surgeon who specialises in cardiac surgery. He was medical director of the National Health Service in England from 2007 and national medical director of the NHS Commissioning Board from 2013 until his retirement early in 2018. He is chair of Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust.

In the United Kingdom, Ireland, and parts of the Commonwealth, consultant is the title of a senior hospital-based physician or surgeon who has completed all of their specialist training and been placed on the specialist register in their chosen speciality. Their role is entirely distinct from that of general practitioners, or GPs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East of England Ambulance Service</span> Ambulance service in England

The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) is an NHS trust responsible for providing National Health Service (NHS) ambulance services in the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, in the East of England region. These consist of approximately 6.2 million people across an area of 7,500 square miles (19,000 km2).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West Midlands Ambulance Service</span> Ambulance trust in England

The West Midlands Ambulance Service University NHS Foundation Trust (WMAS) is responsible for providing NHS ambulance services within the West Midlands region of England. It is one of ten ambulance trusts providing England with emergency medical services, and is part of the National Health Service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Milton Keynes University Hospital</span> Hospital in England

Milton Keynes University Hospital is a district general hospital serving Milton Keynes, its local authority area and the surrounding area of Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire. It is located in the Eaglestone neighbourhood, and opened in 1984. It is managed by Milton Keynes University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust. The hospital has an association with the University of Buckingham Medical School.

Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust is an NHS trust which runs King George Hospital in Goodmayes and Queen's Hospital in Romford. It also operates clinics at a number of sites in the nearby area including Barking Hospital and Brentwood Community Hospital.

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH) is one of England's largest acute teaching trusts. It was established on 1 April 2006 following the merger of Nottingham City Hospital and the Queen's Medical Centre NHS Trusts. They provide acute and specialist services to 2.5m people within Nottingham and surrounding communities at the Queen's Medical Centre (QMC) and the City Hospital campuses, as well as specialist services for a further 3-4m people from across the region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom</span>

Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom provide emergency care to people with acute illness or injury and are predominantly provided free at the point of use by the four National Health Services (NHS) of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is only free to UK residents and a charge may be made to those not entitled to free NHS care.

Healthcare in England is mainly provided by the National Health Service (NHS), a public body that provides healthcare to all permanent residents in England, that is free at the point of use. The body is one of four forming the UK National Health Service as health is a devolved matter, there are differences with the provisions for healthcare elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and in England it is overseen by NHS England. Though the public system dominates healthcare provision in England, private health care and a wide variety of alternative and complementary treatments are available for those willing and able to pay.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hinchingbrooke Hospital</span> Hospital in England

Hinchingbrooke Hospital is a small district general hospital in Hinchingbrooke near Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire. Opened in 1983, it serves the Huntingdonshire area, and has a range of specialities as well as an emergency department and a maternity unit. The hospital is managed by the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust.

Circle Health Group is a private healthcare provider in the United Kingdom, co-founded in 2004 by former investment banker Ali Parsa and consultant ophthalmologist Massoud Fouladi. The company is currently led by former lastminute.com Finance Director Paolo Pieri. Circle began with independent hospitals near Bath and Reading, and now has hospitals in England, Wales and Scotland, together with two in China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isle of Wight NHS Trust</span>

The Isle of Wight NHS Trust is an NHS trust which provides physical health, mental health and ambulance services for the Isle of Wight. The trust is unique in being the only integrated acute, community, mental health and ambulance health care provider in England. It runs St Mary's Hospital and the Isle of Wight Ambulance Service.

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is the main provider of hospital services for Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and North Powys. It runs the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital, the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford, Oswestry Maternity Unit, and Wrekin Community Clinic, Euston House, Telford, in Shropshire, England. It is one of a small number of English NHS Trusts which takes patients from over the border in Wales.

Healthcare in the West Midlands was, until July 2022, the responsibility of five clinical commissioning groups: Birmingham and Solihull, Sandwell and West Birmingham, Dudley, Wolverhampton, and Walsall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Private healthcare in the United Kingdom</span>

Private healthcare in the UK, where universal state-funded healthcare is provided by the National Health Service, is a niche market.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Friarage Hospital</span> Hospital in North Yorkshire, England

Friarage Hospital is a 189-bed hospital located in Northallerton, North Yorkshire, England. The hospital covers a large section of rural North Yorkshire and the Vale of York which amounts to over 120,000 people in 390 square miles (1,000 km2). The hospital is run by the South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is one of six hospitals in the trust's portfolio.

References

  1. "More doctors to get bonuses under government's new scheme". Health Service Journal. 26 January 2022. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  2. "Consultant award schemes and clinical excellence awards (CEA)". BMA. 12 April 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
  3. "Deal to reform clinical excellence awards agreed". Health Service Journal. 22 March 2018. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
  4. "Why do academics dominate the higher CEAs?". Hospital Dr. 20 September 2013. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  5. "Making Britain better". BBC News. 1 July 1998. Retrieved 15 November 2013.
  6. Royal Commission on the NHS Chapter 14. HMSO. July 1979. ISBN   0101761503 . Retrieved 19 May 2015.
  7. "NHS senior doctors paid £300m in excellence awards". Health Service Journal. 28 July 2017. Retrieved 3 September 2017.
  8. "Excellence awards should be withheld at failing trusts, CQC said". Health Service Journal. 6 February 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2019.