Almost 60 examples of excellence and innovation in diabetes care were highlighted at the Quality in Care Diabetes Awards ceremony in November.
Anna Morton, NHS Diabetes Director, who attended the event, says: “The awards have provided a unique platform to showcase good practice and innovation from across the country. We are all working under increased pressure and uncertainty and the examples highlighted have shown how despite adversity high quality diabetes can still be achieved. To ensure the learning is not lost, NHS Diabetes is be sharing the good practice with the diabetes community through our series of specialist networks for healthcare professionals.”
Winners, Partnership of the Year award: North Mersey Diabetes Network
The Best Safe Care of Patients Initiative was won by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust which set up a multidisciplinary team (patients, nurses, doctors and pharmacists) to perform an analysis of critical incident reports and patient stories of errors in managing diabetes in the trust. For each category it produced and implemented a best care bundle: new prescribing and monitoring charts for drug treatment, ‘hypoboxes’ for dealing with hypoglycaemic episodes and guidelines/ward-based education about diabetes. Within four months the incidence of harmful events and hypoglycemic episodes fell, as did prescription and administration errors.
The Pharmaceutical Industry-led Initiative of the Year award was open to any pharmaceutical, life science, diagnostics and devices company. It aimed to recognise outstanding contribution to diabetes care by the life sciences industry, beyond that of traditional medicines or devices supply. The winner was HypoBox by BBI Healthcare, responding to the need for a ‘one-stop’ hypoglycaemia management first aid box. Successful implementation of the initiative ensures that hypoglycaemia is treated effectively and consistently across all wards, improving staff training, patient outcomes and experience as well as reducing bed stays and overall cost.
With the Partnership Working of the Year, an award related to achieving gains in quality and productivity through cross-sector partnership working, the winner was the Hypo Pathway by North Mersey Diabetes Network. The partnership is leading to improved patient care following a hypo. Specialist teams now offer comprehensive hypo assessment, post-event education and support and follow-up recommendations, which have led to improved communication, better patient outcomes and an enhanced patient
Caption: Partnership working of the year, North Mersey Diabetes Network, presented by Simon O’Neil from Diabetes UK, pictured 2nd left).
