Congratulations to our amazing Clinical Skills and Simulation Technician, Caren Reid, who has picked up Simulation Technician of the Year at the inaugural National Simulation Technician Awards 2026.

Caren was nominated by Consultant, Joe Quinn. Joe said: “I nominated Caren as she is an important part of our education team, without whom we could not deliver high-quality training.  She is also a lovely person, always willing to help and find solutions.  She deserves recognition for all her hard work, and I am delighted she has won this award and is now an officially amazing Sim Tech!"

Joining her at the awards was her daughter Deputy Medical Education Manager, Samantha (Samm) Reid. Samm said: “As you can imagine, I am doubly proud, both as a colleague and as Caren’s daughter.

“She works incredibly hard to promote simulation and make scenarios as realistic as possible. Even with the most obscure requests, she will always find a way to make them work.

“From creating bespoke training materials for teams, using moulage on herself and mannequins to add realism (fake bruises, scabs and wounds), to engineering ingenious ways to make the impossible possible, she truly lives and breathes simulation.

“It even extends to having a rather scary mannequin mask sitting on her dining room table for weeks after winning it at an event!

“The Medical Education Team is incredibly proud that Caren is the first-ever Simulation Technician of the Year. I suspect they’ll have a hard time competing with her talent at next year’s awards.

Here’s a snippet of what the presenters said before announcing Caren as their winner, much of it taken from Joe's nomination:

To win this award you can't just know how the tech works. You have to be the kind of person who just doesn't do their job but makes everybody around them better at theirs.

The winner of this award sets top-tier standards in everything they touch, especially during an in-situ simulation where working in an unpredictable real-world clinical space tests even the most experienced professional.

They have upgraded their entire operational setup, built rock-solid SOPs that have made the life of learners, facility, clinical teams and educators so much easier. Whenever something needs fixing, streamlining or modernising, they're always two steps ahead. But beyond their technical talents, what really makes this person special is who they are as a colleague.

In high pressure, fast environment, they are as calm as it gets. Their colleagues describe them as super reliable, always able and ready to lend a hand and an absolute joy to work alongside. On top of that, they are out there championing our field leading healthcare science talks and showing everyone across the organisation just how vital simulation technology really is.