PCDS newsletter: PCDS committee elections – Meet your new committee members

PCDS committee elections: Meet your new committee members
The winners of the Primary Care Diabetes Society elections were announced on 22 November at the Fourth National Conference of the Society, in Birmingham. Pam Brown, Judy Downey, Paul Downie and Debbie Hicks have now joined the committee, and will be contributing to its activities throughout 2009. Roger Gadsby has decided to stand down from the PCDS committee and his role of treasurer, and Alan Hayes has taken up the position. Francesca Arundel has taken up the position of committee Secretary, left vacant by Dr Hayes. Other committee members standing down were Jackie Reynolds, Azhar Farooqi and Sue Holmes. Thank you to all committee members who voted.

PCDS poster award winners
Congratulations to the winners of the PCDS poster award, which was announced at the Fourth National Conference of the Society on 22 November.

Dr Sunandini Ramakrishnan (GP, Liverpool) won first prize for her poster on the incidence of vitamin B12 deficiency in people on metformin therapy. She won a trophy and two free places to PCDS conferences in 2009. Kit McAuley (Diabetes Specialist Nurse, Enfield) won second prize for her poster on improving communication when diagnosing painful neuropathy in diabetes, and Gill Peck (Lead Specialist Nurse, Clifton) won third prize for her poster “Prevention is better than cure”. The PCDS would like to express its gratitude to Novo Nordisk for supporting the poster exhibition and award.

This year’s conference was successful, with many exciting and interesting topics covered. We hope that all of the attendees went away feeling refreshed and empowered to make a difference to the lives of people with diabetes. If you were unable to attend, look out for the full conference report in a subsequent issue of Diabetes & Primary Care.