Trust hospitals win award for diabetes campaign
Conquest Hospital and Eastbourne District General Hospital have been praised for Hypo Awareness Week. The diabetes team at Conquest Hospital and Eastbourne District General Hospital has won a prestigious national award for raising awareness of a complication of diabetes.
The hospitals have been highly commended as part of the Excellence Award for going above and beyond and demonstrating remarkable commitment during Hypo Awareness Week last month.
More than 120 hospitals took part in the campaign, which took place between October 5th to 11th and saw diabetes teams across the country raising awareness of hypoglycaemia.
Hypoglycaemic events known as hypos occur when glucose in the blood falls to a low level, and symptoms can include a pounding heart, trembling, hunger, difficulty concentrating and blurred vision.
Erwin Castro, a Diabetes Specialist Nurse who led the campaign at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust, said:”The Diabetes Team at East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust has always been very proactive in its approach to managing hypoglycaemia, realising the implications to patients of this acute diabetes complication. Also, we value the role of education in raising awareness of staff and the use of engaging initiatives to achieve this. We are very pleased to receive this recognition for our efforts and we will always continue to support these campaigns.”
The judging was conducted by Hypo Awareness Week Excellence Award Champion Dr Partha Kar alongside fellow judges Esther Walden, the chair of the Diabetes Inpatient Specialist Nurse (DISN) UK Group, and Simon O’Neill, Diabetes UK’s Director of Health Intelligence and Professional Liaison.
The judges felt that the team led an interactive campaign and were impressed by how they incorporated a game with prizes as an incentive to take part. Also, the fact that they gave out swatches, captured the night staff and achieved 728 completed questionnaires were all singled out for praised.
Excellence Award Champion Dr Partha Kar said: “This year we launched the award to showcase, promote and reward innovation and excellence during the annual campaign – and Conquest Hospital and Eastbourne District General Hospital fully demonstrated these qualities in abundance. They excelled in raising awareness of hypoglycaemia during Hypo Awareness Week, going above and beyond and demonstrating a remarkable commitment.”
Fellow judge Simon O’Neill, Director of Health Intelligence and Professional Liaison at Diabetes UK, added: “I think it’s great to be able to give awards out like this, as so often nursing teams don’t get the recognition they deserve for all the extra work they put in to really improve care.”
Hypo Awareness Week is an awareness campaign from Novo Nordisk, supported by Diabetes UK.
The TALK Hypos campaign was promoted throughout Hypo Awareness Week 2015, which encourages people with diabetes and their health teams to discuss hypoglycaemia, one of the most common complications of diabetes. This year’s TALK Hypos campaign has an increased focus on night-time hypos.
