Mental Health Nursing Award

Mental health nurses are key to promoting and supporting recovery, helping patients and clients to live independent and fulfilling lives. They build effective relationships with service users and their relatives and carers.

Open to registered nurses working in mental health services. This award aims to recognise those who have succeeded in raising standards of care for their patients and clients and have made an outstanding contribution to the care of service users.

A registered mental health nurse working in a clinical role or managing clinical services within mental health services across Scotland. 

The nominee should clearly demonstrate:

• a commitment to person-centred care, innovation and delivering high quality services that make a difference to the people receiving care
• the positive impact of their work for patients, families and colleagues
• the use of a credible evidence base and/or developing an evidence base to underpin the work for which they are being nominated
• how their work contributes to the delivery of local and national policy and strategy within health and social care.

If you have any questions or queries regarding the awards, please get in touch by emailing scotlandnurseawards@rcn.org.uk

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Lead Dementia Nurse for Stress and Distress
St John's Hospital, Livingston, NHS Lothian

Frances works to improve the care experience for patients with cognitive decline in St John’s Hospital's acute setting by reducing stress and distress, emergency psychiatric interventions and over-medication with sedatives. Frances led the implementation of the Stress and Distress programme. Overcoming challenges including staff understanding of cognitive conditions, she ran awareness-raising and training. Evaluation showed positive outcomes, including reduced need for one-to-one nursing, sedation and emergency calls, along with improved pain management and decreased complaints. Frances’ work has enhanced patient experience, increased partnership with families and improved staff knowledge. Frances led workshops and presentations to share the programme’s success, leading to its adoption in other settings.

Senior Advanced Nurse Practitioner
Auchinlea CMHT, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde

The Auchinlea Community Mental Health Team introduced a senior advanced nurse practitioner role (ANP) to address unsustainable practices and modernise care delivery, the first of its kind in NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. In this role, Pauline improves the patient experience, enhances recruitment and retention, and increases the medical workforce capacity by working at an advanced level. Pauline ensures her work aligns with national health outcomes and quality standards, offering advanced clinical practices including assessment, diagnosis and prescribing. Local data from ANP clinics demonstrate positive outcomes such as reduced hospital admissions and improved patient and staff experiences. Qualitative feedback highlights her effectiveness in patient care and the potential for broader involvement by community mental health teams in managing physical health. Pauline is also involved in establishing clear pathways for complex patients, providing clinical training, and fostering innovative ways of working. Plans include expanding the role and mentoring trainee ANPs to replicate the role’s success across similar services.

Nurse Consultant-Dementia
AND Mental Health Services, NHS Ayrshire and Arran

Susan was nominated for her outstanding contribution, leadership and commitment to the field of mental health nursing. With a diverse background in clinical practice, leadership and education, Susan has notably served as an Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Nurse Consultant for the past six years. Recognising the need for family education highlighted in Scottish clinical guidance, Susan co-designed a model with family carers, addressing the gap in provision. The Carer’s Academy aims to provide practical skills-based learning and support for family caregivers of individuals with dementia. Susan's leadership in assembling a development board and co-design group, negotiating partnerships, and conducting successful pilots demonstrates her commitment to positive dementia practices. Evaluation of the programme indicates its positive impact on coping strategies, empathy and understanding among participants. Susan's mentorship and teaching skills have been instrumental in creating a safe and supportive learning environment. Ongoing evaluations suggest continued success and positive feedback from participants.

Dementia ANP, Psychiatry of the Older Adult, St Johns Hospital, NHS Lothian

Described by colleagues as a committed advance nurse practitioner (ANP), Melissa developed the role of the ANP in dementia care to enhance patient care and reduce referral to diagnosis. She developed a service which sought to prevent admission and reduce readmission to hospital for people with dementia in care homes. By developing nurse led clinics, Melissa supports West Lothian’s contribution to national HEAT targets by reducing waiting times for diagnosis. She adopts a flexible approach to ensure that the service works across older people’s health services as well as supporting other agencies. Adopting a home first model of care, Melissa strives to deliver as much care at home – providing a complex supported discharge service. Within a year, the waiting times in her area had halved, allowing the post diagnostic support teams to engage faster with patients. Melissa’s approach is already being shared across Scotland and she is now supporting ANPs in other areas to implement her initiative. Melissa is keen to demonstrate to senior management what nursing staff can do when given scope to be innovative in their care delivery.