A PSYCHIATRIST at an Oxford hospice has been presented with a prestigious award from an international organisation based in the United States.

Jane Walker, who works at Sobell House in Headington, scooped the Don R. Lipsitt award from the Academy of Consultation-Liaison Psychiatry (ACLP) at an event in Orlando, Florida.

The award recognises psychiatrists who have demonstrated excellence and innovation in the integration of mental health care with other medical care.

Dr Walker, a consultant psychiatrist and researcher at Oxford University Hospitals trust and the University of Oxford, also works at the Churchill Hospital.

She was recognised for her research and care for people with cancer, including patients who also have depression.

She said: “I very feel very honoured to receive this prestigious award for my research and clinical work with people with cancer.

“It has always been important to me, as a doctor and a researcher, to improve the care that we provide for people who are seriously ill.

“We can only do that properly if we recognise that psychiatric illnesses, like depression, can have huge effects on people’s lives and that we need to work just as hard to help patients with their depression as we do with their cancer.”

Trust chief executive, Dr Bruno Holthof, said the award was a ‘great recognition of the trust’s efforts to integrate mental health in all of our patient pathways’.

In November the trust’s psychological medicine team was described as a ‘beacon of excellence’ by judges as they won Team of the Year at the annual Royal College of Psychiatrists Awards.