TV doc gives out award to NHS Diabetes

Breakfast TV’s resident health guru Dr Hilary Jones presented an award to Gillian Johnson for an NHS Diabetes backed project to reduce insulin errors in the North East.

The NHS Diabetes programme manager is the deputy chair of the Regional Insulin Safety and Knowledge (RISK) Project, which won the drug safety catalogue at the recent Safer Care North East Safety Summit.

Gillian, who accepted the award on behalf of the RISK team, said: “Dr Hilary Jones was absolutely charming. He really helped to raise the profile of the work and boosted the morale of all of the attendees.

“The RISK Project has seen some significant achievements, particularly in getting representation from all of the foundation trusts in the area, which is pretty unique.”

Teresa Fenech, deputy chief nurse at NHS North East, said: “Every north east patient has the right to expect safe treatment delivered in a safe environment.

“It was fantastic to have Dr Hilary Jones with us to help shine the light on the significant achievements of north east doctors, nurses and NHS managers, but also as we look towards the future and how we can raise safety standards even further to create positive experiences for both patients and staff.”

The RISK Project’s principle aim is to identify and implement strategies that will lessen insulin errors and improve the care of people with diabetes on insulin therapy. Four workstreams will be responsible for taking the project forward. It was launched on the back on a damning National Patient Safety Agency report into insulin safety, which included one death and one severe harm incident.