SW healthcare teams honoured at The BMJ Awards 2016

Three healthcare teams from the South West scooped prizes at The BMJ Awards 2016 in London on Wednesday night (4 May).

The BMJ Awards are the UK’s premier medical awards programme, recognising and celebrating the inspirational work done by doctors and their teams.

This year’s awards attracted more than 300 entries across 15 categories, including anaesthesia, cancer care, dermatology, and palliative care.

Anaesthetists at Plymouth Hospitals NHS Trust won Anaesthesia Team of the Year for engaging trainees in meaningful research

Dr Gary Minto, consultant anaesthetist and his team set up a regional research network - the South West Anaesthesia Research Matrix or SWARM - to embed research into everyday practice.

The judges said: “SWARM provides good opportunities for career development and will increase the future supply of highly informed, engaged and motivated anaesthetic researchers working for the ultimate benefit of patients.”

A team at the Royal Devon and Exeter Foundation Trust won Diabetes Team of the Year for transforming the lives of people with a genetic form of diabetes, known as monogenic diabetes, which is often misdiagnosed as type 1 diabetes.

Professor Andrew Hattersley and his team is working to raise awareness through education and a national network of genetic diabetes nurses.

The judges were struck by the “rapid translation of world-leading research into clinical practice” that has transformed the lives of so many people across the country.

Finally, a team at Cornwall Partnership Foundation Trust won Neurology Team of the Year for developing a seizure safety checklist and mobile app for patients with epilepsy to keep track of their condition. Sudden deaths have halved and the checklist is now part of mainstream clinical practice in the UK.

“A comprehensive and innovative approach to reduce sudden death in patients with epilepsy, and easily transferrable outside the UK” was the judges’ unanimous conclusion.