27 July 2012

United Kingdom, 10^th July 2012 – The SAGE Award 2012 (Shire Award for Gastrointestinal Excellence) first place has been jointly presented to two projects for their work which has shown considerable excellence in gastrointestinal care.  The Mersey School of Endoscopy and the Northern Nutrition Network (NNN) will each receive a grant of £7,500 for furthering and enhancing the development of their respective project. The Mersey School of Endoscopy’s winning entry was The Sustainable Endoscopy Training project in Malawi which aims to improve the services and procedures of endoscopy in this resource limited setting, developing locally relevant training courses and procedures, creating a training hub and extending this out to regional hospitals. The Northern Nutrition Network was developed to improve the nutritional care of patients in the North of England. The network enables healthcare professionals to share best practice, access training and updates and ultimately improve patient care.  The NNN have carried out regional audits of clinical practice, implemented guidelines and patient pathways, developed an annual training day and fostered multidisciplinary relationships. Dr Paul O’Toole, Consultant Gastroenterologist, Director of the Mersey School of Endoscopy, Liverpool, commented, “We are delighted to receive this award and to be recognised for our commitment to improving endoscopy services in Malawi.  Endoscopy staff in Malawi are now better equipped with training resources, and this award will help us to continue partnering and enabling them to provide an improved level of patient care, greatly needed in this low-resource region”. Dr Nicholas Thompson, Consultant Gastroenterologist based at the Freeman Hospital which is part of the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, developing the NNN project, stated, “We would like to thank the judging panel for awarding the NNN this award for all its efforts within Nutrition care in the north of England.  The multidisciplinary team (MDT) has worked hard to ensure the delivery of standardised and improved patient care. The grant will enable the Network to run MDT development courses to enable Trusts to develop properly functioning nutrition MDTs, essential to delivering high quality patient care. We will also be able to carry out a prospective, region-wide audit of Parenteral nutrition within hospital”. A team led by Dr Harry Dalton at The Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro was awarded a grant of £3,000 for their project which helps identify patients with low risk upper gastrointestinal haemorrhage through the use of an innovative risk-assessment tool. The winners were presented with their grant at an event held during the Digestive Disease Federation Congress in Liverpool on 19^th June. The SAGE Awards 2013 will be open to entries in the autumn.

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