News Flash from the Inaugural PM Group Diabetes QIC (Quality In Care) Awards at Sanofi UK – 17th November 2011 Now, I have been to a few awards ceremonies in my time and obviously the ones you win at go down in legend and the ones you don’t get parked in the darker bits of the grey matter. So, attending the inaugural Diabetes Qic awards was a refreshing change and really rewarding experience given there were no possible gongs to be won. Why? – Well a number of things. Let’s start with scene setting and build the story. We all know (but perhaps we don’t call it out enough) that diabetes is the great stalking threat to our health system. It’s chronic, emotive, comes in many forms with many consequences and is often ignored. I think a quote from Simon O’Neil, one of the host judges from Diabetes UK, summed up the ‘Why’ are these awards necessary when he said he only ‘got 3 hours of care from the health system a year and provided 800 hours himself’ (Or words to that effect – sorry Simon!). With that in mind, I loved the sentiment behind the awards which was to showcase and recognise innovative and solutions coming from within the NHS and the community.  Now this always gets me going as it’s about open innovation and about open collaboration but it’s a sentiment that does not often deliver. So I was blown away by what followed. To a full house (standing room only) in the Sanofi UK atrium in Guildford we had a fine introduction from Caroline Horwood, director of Sanofi Diabetes, in the UK and Ireland followed by David Fisher the MD of the PM group and Anna Morton head of NHS diabetes. The audience were HCPs and community members from all over the country and I think it’s a testament to the organisers that they were able to bring so many together. Hosting the awards within Sanofi was a great touch too as I personally believe that greater collaboration between industry and clinicians is the only way to manage the impact of diabetes on the people involved and the system that supports them. Now for the entrants; the lucky winners are: Best Type 2 diabetes prevention initiative Care Call by Salford Royal Foundation Trust Winner: Walking Away by Leicester Diabetes Centre, Hospitals of Leicester Best screening or early detection initiative Winner: Self-assessment tool by University Hospitals of Leicester Best initiative supporting self-care Eat Smart, Live Smarter by Abbott Diabetes Care 1-Greatlife by 1-Greatlife Ltd Getting Sorted by Leeds Metropolitan University and Getting Sorted Enterprise Insulin Pump Workbook by Leeds Teaching Hospital Trust and University of York E-learning Programme and Aide Memoir by Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust Care Planning by Milton Keynes Diabetes Care Gumsaver^tm by Dr Hani Mostafa Our Health, Our Care, Our Say by NHS Portsmouth Winner: Co-Creating Health by Whittington Health Diabetes Education through Adult Learning (DEAL) by St Helens & Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust KICK-OFF by Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust Winner: National DAFNE Programme by Northumbria Healthcare Foundation Trust Best emergency or in-patient care initiative Diabetes Management module by Barnet and Chase Farm NHS Trust Winner: ThinkGlucose by Cambridge University Hospitals (CUH) ThinkGlucose by Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust In-patient Project by Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust ThinkGlucose by Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust Insulin Sliding Scale by Royal Free Hampstead NHS Trust Establishing Diabetes In-patient Specialist Nurses (DISN) in Northern Ireland by Sanofi Best initiative managing complications associated with diabetes 1-Greatlife by 1-Greatlife Ltd Winner: Failsafe by Homerton University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Systematically improving the outcomes of prevention in primary care by Greenwich Public Health NHS South East London Clinical service redesign SystemOne by Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundations Trust Diabetes Strategy Pilot by NHS Leicester and Rutland Winner: Bringing specialist care into primary care – enhancing the team by Nigel Stones, Jackie Price, Ruth Seabrook ThinkGlucose by Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust (RBFT) Years of Care project by NHS Tower Hamlets Enhancing the team by Salford Royal Foundation Trust Best Integrated care initiative Winner: Supporting the administration of insulin in schools by Nottingham Children’s Hospital 3 Dimensions of Care For Diabetes (3DFD) by King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Integrated Community Diabetes Service (ICDS) by University of Hospitals of Leicester Best safe care of patients’ initiative Winner: Setting up a MDT by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Safe use of insulin e-learning module by University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Team of The Year Working In Diabetes Winner: Lakeside Diabetes Team by NHS South East London, Bexley Business Support Unit Portsmouth Diabetes Team by Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust Diabetes Specialist Team by Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust (RBFT) Diabetes Outreach Team, ThinkGlucose by Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust Community Initiative of the Year Winner: 3 Dimensions of Care for Diabetes (3DFD) by King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Integrated Community Diabetes Service (ICDS) by University Hospitals of Leicester Pharmaceutical Industry-led Initiative of the Year Winner: HypoBox by BBI Healthcare Special: Excellence in Diabetes Programme by Sanofi Partnership Working of the Year Winner: The Hypo Pathway by North Mersey Diabetes Network Getting Sorted by Leeds Metropolitan University and Getting Sorted Enterprise Children and Young People with Diabetes Project Board by Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust New Sector Skills Council Qualifications by Skills for Care Safe use of insulin e-learning module by University Hospitals of Leicester There were three special awards for Innovation, Patient Support and the Peoples Award. The last deservedly won by Angela Allison for her Diabetes Power Type 1 awareness campaign. So I think you can tell from that just what a breadth of entrants there were, but what does it tell us about innovation in the UK healthcare community? Personally, I was amazed by the genuine groundswell of innovation that is occurring. These are almost all bottom up activities done on a budget with openness at their heart and designed to share and scale. It’s open innovation at its best. Getting to grips with diabetes will be a long road and the road needs to be lit by loads of bright spots of innovation along the way and I really hope that bringing everyone together in this way will brighten the way and kick off loads and loads of sparks of activity along the way. Last but not least, I’d like to say a big thank you to Becky Reeve from Sanofi and Louise Bellamy and Anneliese Cameron from the PM group for the invitation. We are delighted to announce that the Diabetes Quality in Care programme will be returning in 2012. You can read our latest blog post on QiC 2012 here.