AN NHS clinical psychologist from the North West is celebrating after receiving a prestigious national award for her outstanding work around mental health and psychological practice in the North West and nationally.

The British Psychological Society has recognised Dr Gita Bhutani, Co-Chair of NHS England North West’s regional Psychological Professions Network, by announcing her as the 2024 winner of their “Distinguished Contribution to Practice Award”.

The award recognises Gita for innovating and developing psychological thinking in a range of settings, adhering to the principles of distributed leadership and growing communities of practice to facilitate access to psychology for all.

Dr Gita Bhutani, Co-Chair of NHS England North West’s regional Psychological Professions Network, said: “I’m honoured and humbled and delighted to receive the award for Distinguished Contribution to Practice from the British Psychological Society. While the award is for one person, it’s important to recognise the parts that colleagues, friends and family have played in enabling my work over the years.”

Gita, who is also a Clinical Psychologist at Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust’s Traumatic Stress Service, led the development of the Psychological Professions Network which began in the North West in 2013 and was extended across England by 2021.

Gita also adopted the term ‘Psychological Professions’ to describe the family of professions who provide psychological therapies and interventions. This new wording is now widely used and supported by the wide range of psychological professionals.

After qualifying as a Clinical Psychologist in Glasgow in 1992, Gita worked in Salford before joining Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust in 2006 as Professional Lead for Psychological Services where she remained as director until last year.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Gita led on the development of the Resilience Hub for Lancashire and South Cumbria. Since 2009, Gita has worked in Lancashire and South Cumbria’s Specialist Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder Service, currently the only NICE-compliant provider of therapy for this disorder in the north of England.

Chris Cutts, Regional Director of Workforce, Training and Education at NHS England North West, said: “We are delighted that Gita has won this award from the British Psychological Society. It recognises Gita’s outstanding and lasting contribution in making mental health more accessible for the benefit of members of the public, and our NHS people and organisations, as we continue on with delivering the NHS Long Term Workforce Plan, the first-of-its-kind plan for the NHS, to train, retain and reform the workforce and put the NHS on a sustainable footing into the future. We at NHS England congratulate Gita on this achievement.”

Professor Tony Lavender, Chair of the British Psychological Society Practice Board which made the award, said: “Gita is a well-deserved winner of our Distinguished Contribution Award. Gita has shown outstanding inclusive leadership at local and national levels in the development of the psychological professions, and her work across service development, training and research has been both highly innovative and deeply impactful.”

The Psychological Professions Network is a regional membership network for all psychological professionals in NHS commissioned healthcare. It was established in 2013 with support from Health Education England in the North West (now part of NHS England North West).

The network provides a collective voice for all psychological professionals and provides an independent voice for the psychological professions. For more information visit www.ppn.nhs.uk/north-west