Trend co-chair to speak at Diabetes Nursing Awards

Trend Diabetes co-chair Debbie Hicks

One of the co-chairs of the award-winning Trend Diabetes will lead an educational session at the inaugural Diabetes Nursing Awards.

The new awards programme celebrates the UK’s diabetes nursing heroes and will share best practice and educational insights among healthcare professionals.

The awards ceremony will feature an educational session called ‘Hope springs eternal… A personal reflection’ in which Trend’s Debbie Hicks will explore the rollercoaster of living with diabetes.

Debbie said: “This personal reflection will explore the rollercoaster of life living with diabetes, including the ups and downs, but essentially holding onto to the hope that at some time in the future life will improve.”

The session will have three educational outcomes. Attendees will:

·      Understand the psychosocial impact that a long-term condition has on the individual and their family

·      Understand how appropriate or inappropriate language can engage or disengage a person with diabetes

·      Celebrate how technology within diabetes care, over the past 50 years, has improved the lives of people living with diabetes.

Debbie began diabetes nursing in 1990 and has had an illustrious career featuring many highlights, such as chairing the Diabetes Nursing Strategy Group and the National Nurse Consultant Group. She has published more than 140 papers on topics including insulin therapy, injection device choice, injection technique, blood glucose monitoring, care delivery, patient education and service redesign.

She has also won national awards for her work on injection safety and in 2019 was invited to a Prime Minister’s Reception at 10 Downing Street for her contribution to care for people with diabetes.

Debbie retired from the NHS last year but remains heavily involved in the education of healthcare professionals in the UK and internationally.

Along with fellow Trend co-chair June James and leading experts from the DSN Forum and DISN UK Group, Debbie will also help to judge this year’s Diabetes Nursing Awards.

Event organiser Emily Mayhew said: “The response we’ve had to the Diabetes Nursing Awards has been fantastic.

“It’s a brilliant opportunity for nurses to celebrate the work they are doing and, perhaps even more importantly, it gives them the chance to spread awareness about innovations in diabetes healthcare with their colleagues.”

The deadline for award entries is midnight on Friday, March 29. The winners will be announced at a dinner and awards ceremony held at Thistle Marble Arch London between 8pm and 11pm on Friday, June 7. 

The evening will be hosted by Dr Sarah Jarvis MBE who is well-known throughout the UK, appearing regularly on radio and television to offer advice on all manner of health issues.

The awards are sponsored and funded by A. Menarini Farmaceutica Internazionale SRL.

Entry to the awards is free and finalists will be invited to attend the awards ceremony for free.

For more information about the Diabetes Nursing Awards, visit: www.diabetesnursingawards.co.uk or to enter the awards go to www.diabetesnursingawards.co.uk/entry-form