Five University of Liverpool medical students excelled at the RCGP Mersey Faculty Medical Student Poster Prize 2025, taking home the majority of awards at this year’s ceremony. Held on Friday 7 November, the event recognised outstanding student-led research and quality improvement across primary care.
2025 Student Poster Prize Winners
1st Place - Carina Sidhu
Fit for Purpose? A Clinical Audit of Fit Note Use in General Practice
Carina’s two-year audit reviewed the quality of fit note documentation, finding that key elements such as functional status and return-to-work planning were often missing. After clinician education, documentation improved and use of the “may be fit for work” option increased, supporting earlier return-to-work and reducing long-term sickness absence.
I’m incredibly grateful to have received first place in the RCGP Mersey Faculty Student Poster Prize. It was a brilliant evening and a great chance to speak with GPs about careers in primary care. I really enjoyed sharing my work and hearing how it resonated with clinicians.
Joint 2nd place - Amelia Hoogewerf and Alicia Tally
Amelia Hoogewerf - An Audit of PCOS Management in Primary Care: Adherence to Cardiovascular and Metabolic Risk Assessment Guidelines.
Amelia’s audit reviewed PCOS management for 26 patients and found major gaps in cardiovascular and metabolic monitoring. Only 31% had a QRISK2 score and many were overdue HbA1c tests, with blood pressure, lipid checks and lifestyle advice recorded inconsistently. Her work highlights the need for structured templates, automated reminders and greater clinician awareness of PCOS-related cardiometabolic risk.
Alicia Tally - Audit of Childhood Vaccination Recall Systems in a Liverpool General Practice: Efficacy and Opportunities for Improvement
Alicia’s audit found major inconsistencies in recall efforts for children missing MMR or DTaP vaccines, with some waiting over 1,500 days for follow-up. Escalation steps were often missed, opportunistic vaccination was rare, and issues like parental hesitancy and poor EMIS flagging contributed to delays. She recommends clearer escalation, better documentation and a central immunisation log.
Joint 3rd place - Sophie Jenkins and Zoha Imtiaz
Zoha Imtiaz - The Impact of Age at Menarche on Female Fertility, Fertility Outcomes and ART Outcomes: A Systematic Review
Zoha’s systematic review found late menarche is consistently linked with reduced fertility, while early menarche produces mixed outcomes. Her findings suggest menarcheal age could act as an early fertility-risk indicator, with further research needed on ART outcomes.
Sophie Jenkins - The Compliance of GP Referrals with NICE Chronic Kidney Disease Guidelines 2021 (NG203) to LUFTH Department of Nephrology
Sophie reviewed CKD referrals and found variation in the inclusion of essential data such as eGFR, ACR and KFRE scores. Missing information made triage more challenging. She recommends clearer documentation standards and more structured referral processes. (Sophie wasn't able to make the awards night.)
Recognising Primary Care Excellence
Five students from Liverpool and one from Edge Hill were recognised overall, demonstrating the depth of primary care research in the region. Awards were presented by Professor Steve Cox FRCGP and Dr Abhi Mantgani FRCGP.
Dr KJ Harrison, GP Theme Lead, praised the winners: Dr KJ Harrison, GP Theme Lead at the School of Medicine, praised the students’ efforts and highlighted the significance of their contributions to primary care research:
Each year, the RCGP Mersey Faculty invites medical students to showcase original research and quality improvement work in primary care, and this year’s submissions were outstanding. Our students’ projects demonstrate both the depth of their commitment and the meaningful impact their work can have on primary care practice. It’s fantastic to see their achievements recognised, and I hope it encourages them to continue pursuing academically rich and rewarding opportunities in general practice.
Celebrating both 2024 & 2025 winners
As last year’s ceremony could not take place, the 2024 RCGP Mersey Poster Prizes winners were also honoured on the night, including:
- 1st place: Nyle Reece
- Joint 2nd place: Areej Bilal and Nour El Tarsha
Congratulations to all of our winners and to everyone recognised across Cheshire and Merseyside for their outstanding contributions.
Keep an eye on the Student Bulletin (every Tuesday) and our social media platforms for more opportunities to enter competitions, showcase your work and get involved.