The CEA (Clinical Excellence Award) scheme in England and Wales aims to reward the consultants who contribute most to the delivery of safe and high-quality care and the improvement of NHS services. This includes consultants and senior academic GPs who do so through their contribution to academic medicine and can be awarded a local or national Clinical Excellence Award. The application process is annual.
More information can be found at:
Local Awards
Local Clinical Excellence Awards (LCEAs) are awarded by Local Committees. Existing awards are annual, consolidated and pensionable and new awards are one off, non-consolidated lump sum payments. The value of the awards are:
The local award process is going through a period of change. There is an interim scheme in place from 01/04/2018 to 31/03/2021 with the new scheme taking effect from 01/04/2021.
Old (existing awards only)
These apply to exisiting award holders only and the payments are pensionable, consolidated and included in uplifts for consultants undertaking Additional Programmed Activities (APAs). They are being phased out. See below.
Interim Scheme – 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2021 (new awards)
- New LCEAs (those granted after April 2018) will be non-pensionable and non-consolidated.
- New LCEAs will be paid annually by lump sum for between one and three years, and will not include uplifts for consultants undertaking Additional Programmed Activities (APAs).
- Existing LCEAs (those granted before April 2018) will be retained and will remain pensionable and consolidated but will be subject to review from 2021.
- Where national awards are withdrawn, there will be a mechanism based on current scoring allowing reversion to a local level award (either at level 7 or 8).
National Awards
National Clinical Excellence Awards are awarded by ACCEA and the value of the awards are:
New awards are for 4 years, backdated to the previous 1 April, after which a renewal for an application should be made. Renewed awards are valid for 5 years from the subsequent 1 April.
An application for the next level cannot be made until the current award has been held for 3 years.
Changes to Employment Status
The ACCEA Secretariat should be notified of any changes to employment for National Award Holders by completing the ACCEA Change in Employment of Clinical Excellence Award Holders form.
Covid-19 Pandemic Update
In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, LCEA (local clinical excellence awards) will not be run this year, and the award money will instead be distributed equally among eligible consultants.
ACCEA has suspended applications for the 2020 national Clinical Excellence Awards competition and will implement contingency plans for new applications. ACCEA will ensure that those whose awards expire in April 2021 are not disadvantaged by being unable to submit a renewal application.
Please direct any questions regarding the local or national Clinical Excellence Award process to the Recruitment Adviser, School of Clinical Medicine.
