Diabetes Digital Media (DDM) has been named Most Influential Diabetes Technology Company of the Year at the inaugural Diabetes Professional Care Industry Awards.
The Diabetes Professional Care Conference hosted its first-ever Industry Awards in partnership with The Diabetes Times to celebrate success and innovation across pharmaceutical, medical device and life sciences companies working in diabetes care.
DDM Chief Executive Officer Arjun Panesar said at DPC2018: “We are delighted that all of the DDM team has been recognised for innovating in digital health and technology.
“Over 1.2 million members use a digital solution provided by DDM. The impact of these solutions, including the Diabetes Forum and Low Carb Program is not only empowering of people with diabetes around the world, it is pioneering the academic evidence base and redefining diabetes management.”
Wooooop!! Winner of the inaugural ‘Most Influential Diabetes Technology Company of the Year’ at the Diabetes Professional Care and Diabetes Times Awards – a great end to the day 🎉🎉🎉 #DPC2018 pic.twitter.com/17SMVHcfEC— Diabetes.co.uk (@Diabetescouk) November 14, 2018
There were record numbers at the first day of DPC2018 in London’s Olympia. The first day, which took place on World Diabetes Day, kicked off with an introduction from Professor Jonathan Valabhji, NHS England’s National Clinical Director for Obesity and Diabetes and Dr Partha Kar, Diabetes Consultant and National Associate Clinical Director for Diabetes.
Together they provided an update on NHS England’s future diabetes plans and spoke about the Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. They also discussed the announcement NHS England had announced on the same day that the so-called ‘postcode lottery’ about who gets access to the FreeStyle Libre is to come to an end.
Dr Kar said: “This is an exciting and welcome step forward as the aim is to have uniform prescribing policy across the NHS, irrespective of where someone with type 1 diabetes lives. This will be based on previous national guidance issued- with the provision of updating it as further evidence accrues.”
The results of the eagerly-anticipated DECLARE study into cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes were unveiled for the first time in the UK at the conference. The research involved 17,000 people and showed how the drug Forxiga (dapagliflozin) reduced hospitalisation for heart failure or CV death with no increase in major CV events versus placebo in a broad population with type 2 diabetes.
Dr Fiona Campbell, Lead Clinician for Paediatrics at the Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust presented on health outcomes among children who use flash glucose monitoring, while Dr Mayank Patel, Consultant in Diabetes and Senior Clinical Lecturer at University hospital Southampton NHS Trust and University of Southampton discussed the highs and lows of blood glucose.
The schedule for the rest of the day remained full and varied with many people queuing to attend each session. There were workshops on primary care training, how to empower patients to improve their diabetes and advice on injection techniques.
In the afternoon Dr Kar joined Professor Gerry Rayma, Head of Service at the Diabetes and Endocrine Centre, and the Diabetes Research Unit at Ipswich Hospitals NHS for a talk about reducing variation of diabetes care across England.
Founder Maggie Meer, who has type 2 diabetes and set up the conference in a bid to improve care, said: “We’re proud, once again, to welcome many of the foremost thought-leaders and practitioners in diabetes care to share their expertise at our conference and workshop sessions.
“As the number of people diagnosed with diabetes continues to grow, it is more important than ever that they have this unique forum in which to impart their knowledge and experience.”
