It's great that the Safewards project has been recognised for research impact. Safewards was the culmination of about 20 years of research - we finished the trial back in 2015 and then made all the materials freely available on the website. And because of that, there's been widespread interest, and it means Safewards has been implemented on psychiatric wards across the UK, but increasingly across Scandinavia, Australia, New Zealand, we've even got some places in America, and most recently, we're working with colleagues in China. So it's had a global impact, and that means that wards where they're using the Safewards intervention we know are calmer and safer places for patients and for staff.
Professor Alan Simpson
21 March 2025
Safewards awarded first-ever NIHR Impact Prize
The Safewards team at King’s College London and City St George’s, University of London has been awarded one of the first NIHR Impact Prizes. These awards recognise major improvements in health over the last two decades, driven by research and scientific advances.
The Safewards team was one of the first winners of the NIHR Impact Prizes, announced at a ceremony in Birmingham on 20 March 2025 by Professor Lucy Chappell, the Chief Scientific Advisor at the Department of Health and Social Care and Chief Executive Officer of the NIHR.
The team was awarded one of five established investigator awards for research to show the efficacy of Safewards, a nurse-led intervention designed to improve conditions in mental health wards.
The NIHR Impact Prizes were awarded to researchers and teams who have had a major impact on the health and wealth of the nation, and globally. They celebrate researchers who have maximised the impact of their research by improving people’s lives or promoting economic growth.
In total, NIHR received 136 entries. Of the 10 winners, five awards went to research teams and five to early-career researchers.
Professor Alan Simpson, Professor of Mental Health Nursing at the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) and Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursing, Midwifery & Palliative Care at King's College London, accepted the award on behalf of the team.
Professor Simpson added: "It's been really nice hearing all the other projects that have been recognised, and you just sit there thinking, how many impressive researchers there are out there doing great, great work with huge impact. It's just very, very lovely to be recognised alongside all those others.”
Research supported by an NIHR Programme Grant for Applied Research led to the development of Safewards. The Safewards model has been shown to create calmer and safer mental health wards for patients and staff, reducing both conflict and containment. Safewards has been introduced at hundreds of inpatient settings in the UK, and has been included in a number of government policies in the UK and around the world.
Professor Simpson explains Safewards in the video below.
The judging panel commented: “A clear award winner with impact across the world.”
The NIHR is funded by the Department of Health and Social Care. Its mission is to save lives and improve the quality of life of the public through research.
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Professor of Mental Health Nursing