NNUH consultant shortlisted for top award
A Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital consultant has been shortlisted for a prestigious national award for his work on a national guideline for treating patients with diabetes in a medical emergency.
Dr Ketan Dhatariya, a consultant in diabetes, endocrinology and general medicine based at the NNUH Elsie Bertram Diabetes Centre, has been nominated for the Royal College of Physicians (RCP) Excellence in Patient Care Awards.
He was shortlisted in the patient-centred care category for “The development, publication, implementation and assessment of a national guideline for the management of diabetic ketoacidosis in adults”.
Diabetic ketoacidosis is a potentially life-threatening complication of diabetes caused by a lack of insulin in the body.
It occurs when the body is unable to use blood sugar because there isn’t enough insulin and instead, it breaks down fat as an alternative source of fuel.
Until 2010, every hospital had its own guidelines for managing the condition, all slightly different.
The Joint British Diabetes Societies (JBDS) for Inpatient Care group produced a national guideline in 2010 on which Dr Dhatariya was an author, and an updated version in 2013 on which he was lead author.
This was followed up by a national survey sent to every diabetes team in the country to measure the effectiveness of the guidelines, which revealed 80% of all hospitals were following the guidelines.
In recent years it has also regularly been among the top four downloaded medical papers from the journal it was published in.
Dr Dhatariya said: “There are some fantastic pieces of work out there so to be shortlisted is a huge honour and I’m very humbled. It has been a team effort and it’s an important piece of work but there’s a lot of work still to be done.
“The UK national guidelines or guidelines based on ours are now used all over the world, and has helped to unify the treatment of tens of thousands of people across this country every year.
“Ultimately it has changed the way diabetes ketoacidosis is treated across the country and across the world.”
The RCP said in its nomination announcement: “These inspiring entries demonstrate that across the UK and internationally, people in all positions are striving to improve the quality of patient care.
“The achievements of the nominees are remarkable and they are all a credit to the medical profession. In a world which only seems to talk about the problems with health, their work comes as a very welcome reminder that medicine is brilliant.”
The final winners for each category will be announced during the conference dinner at Medicine 2017: RCP annual conference in Manchester on 16 March.