The 2021 Rowan Hillson Inpatient Safety Award has been postponed due to the unprecedented volume of work within the NHS caused by the pandemic, organisers have said.
The annual prize, which is organised by Joint British Diabetes Societies for Inpatient Care (JBDS – IP), is entitled ‘The best interventions: Redesigning, rebuilding and maintaining safe inpatient diabetes care during COVID’.
However, applications have been very low in comparison to previous years, which organisers said is “completely understandable”.
Dr Umesh Dashora who co-leads the project with Erwin Castro, said: “We are aware that diabetes teams all over the country have been making significant contributions to the acute care of people during the COVID-19 pandemic and may not be in the best position to take out time to submit applications for this award.
‘This is completely understandable, which is why we have decided to postpone the competition until September when we hope the building pressure on the health service may have eased by then.”
The theme will remain the same when the competition is relaunched and it is hoped people might have more time to submit applications.
The submissions will be judged against predetermined criteria, by an independent panel chaired by Dr Rowan Hillson MBE. The winner will be presented with the prestigious annual Rowan Hillson Inpatient Safety Award at a later date.
The outcome of this initiative will be published on the ABCD, Diabetes UK and DISN UK Group websites to share excellent practice.
