Offered as part of the BUPA Foundation annual awards in association with the Patient Information Forum (PiF), The Communication Award for Effective Communication Between Health Care Professionals and Patients, recognises effective communication between the medical profession and patients. The BUPA awards are made annually in recognition of excellence in medical research and health care, as a way of rewarding researchers' previous work as well as "seeding" follow-up studies if appropriate, or piloting work in a new direction prompted by the successful project.

They are presented in November each year, at the BUPA Foundation awards dinner, usually held in London, England. A short video of each winning project is featured in the presentation, followed by the prize giving and dinner. The winner will receive £10,000, half of which is paid direct to the individual or team members and half of which will be used to further the award winner's study in the field of medical research.



Applications are open to healthcare professionals who are United Kingdom (UK) residents only. All entries should have their origins in work which commenced after 2000 and which has been completed recently or is currently active. Full reference must be made to all relevant work published in medical journals circulated in the UK. Entries must be original and attributable to an individual or small team, and the award is not open to students.

The submission must demonstrate enhanced mutual understanding between patients and health care professionals, and should describe work which could be widely adopted for the benefit of patients. Submissions must also demonstrate improvement in at least one of the following:
doctor/patient communication;
communication between doctors and the general public;
communication skills of individual doctors as a result of the project;
methods of transferring information between doctors and patients; and
in-patient systems.

Applicants should contact the Awards administrator for an application form and fill it in as required. A one-page executive summary of the submission confirming its compliance with the award requirements should be included. Submissions should be in writing up to a maximum of 5,000 words on A4 paper with support materials (charts and pictures as appropriate). A shorter submission accompanying, for example, a computer programme, tape or audio visual aid, is acceptable. If you do submit in this format, seven copies are required for circulation to the judges. Candidates who are short-listed for the Communications award will be asked to give a presentation in person to the BUPA Foundation board. Short-listed candidates will be notified in writing about this.

Submissions must be posted to the BUPA Foundation, whose contact information is below.

Click here to view guidelines and eligibility criteria.

The deadline for application is July 2 2007.

Click here for details on how to enter this competition.

Click here to read about previous winners.