This is to announce the results of this national competition for ‘the best digital initiative’. We are very grateful to Dr Rowan Hillson and her fellow judges, Dr Ketan Dhatariya, Dr Clare Crowley,Erwin Castro and Oliver Jelley for their time in judging this competition.

Dr Umesh Dashora, Erwin Castro and Debbie Stanisstreet led this project, and the winning Trusts,

and the (lead person/s) who submitted their entries are as follows:

The Winner::

Western General Hospital, NHS Lothian  (Dr Stuart Ritchie))

1. Always include “diabetes” as a diagnosis in inpatients

• Even if not the primary reason for admission, specify that the patient has diabetes and the specific type.
• This affects the complication score (the “cc score”) affecting income.

2. Always include diabetes related complications in the list of diagnoses in inpatients

It is my pleasure to announce that the first “John Wales Memorial Lecture” will be delivered by Dr Peter Winocour at the spring meeting of ABCD in Glasgow.

'Delivering better diabetes care - it's about time!’

I hope you will be able to join us for this auspicious occasion to celebrate the enormous contribution made by Lt. Dr John Wales to the birth of ABCD. This lecture will be delivered on an annual basis at the spring meeting of ABCD.

If you didn’t manage to attend the 2018 Diabetes UK APC   go to the App store and  download  the meeting  App (DUKPC).  It will give you a flavour of the meeting and access to the Abstracts.  Below are summaries of the presentations which are most likely to appear in the popular press.

Wednesday. 

ABCD is delighted to  announce the appointment of Dr Marie-France Kong to  the post of Editor-in-Chief  of British Journal of Diabetes (BJD). Dr Kong works as a Consultant in Diabetes and Endocrinology at Leicester Royal Infirmary and was previously the acting Editor-in-chief. This is an excellent news and we wish her the best of luck  in her new Role

Around 3.2 million people in the UK have been diagnosed with diabetes. Of these, approximately 300,000 have Type 1 diabetes.

Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) has been reported in patients with diabetes taking SGLT-2 inhibitor drugs both in clinical trials and in real life situations, particularly amongst patients taking insulin.

Cardiovascular disease is a key contributor to excess morbidity and premature mortality in diabetes and chronic kidney disease is an independent and major risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Lipids are a modifiable risk factor and good lipid management offers improved outcomes for diabetic patients with concomitant renal disease. This report provides a detailed rationale in association with the guidelines, as well as recommendations for clinical audit and outstanding questions for further research. 

A significant percentage of patients with diabetes develop chronic kidney disease (CKD), and diabetes is also a leading cause of end-stage renal disease.  More than a quarter of patients who are on dialysis in the UK have diabetes.  Diabetic kidney disease is associated with high morbidity and mortality, which are predominantly related to cardiovascular complications and the progression of kidney disease that requires renal replacement therapy. Hypertension is a modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular complications and progression of CKD.3