Meet the Winners

The MDS Awards for Excellence 2009

The BBC’s In Touch presenter Peter White presented the first Macular Disease Society annual awards at the London conference. There were three categories for this year’s awards:

1. Best clinician or clinical service.
2. Best support worker or services.
3. The Chairman’s Awards for service to the MDS or people with MD.

Clinical Services Category Winners

In the clinical services category, the judges were looking for exceptionally good practice in the care for people with MD, including the development of good care and referral pathways, innovation and excellent patient communications.

Joint winners for best clinical services were:

• The team at the Birmingham and Midland Eye Centre led by Professor Jonathan Gibson
• The ophthalmic team at the Hull and East Yorkshire Eye Hospital led by Mr Jim Innes
• The eye unit at Torbay Hospital led by Mr Mick Cole

The judges recognised the exceptional work done by these teams on behalf of patients in obtaining treatment and developing services, the care taken in the physical and emotional handling of patients and the confidence the teams inspire in their patients.

Best Support Worker or Services Category Winners

In the support category the judges were looking for exceptional commitment to good practice in the provision of support services and evidence of effective working which has improved the lives of people with MD.

The joint winners in the support services category were:

• Nina Carlisle, optometrist in Crewkerne. The proposer said: “She welcomed questions and stressed all I could do to help myself so I emerged informed, heartened, no longer fearing blindness but confident I could cope.”
• The Optometry and Low Vision Service at Coventry University Hospital. The proposer said: “If this department was closed down, hundreds of people would be bereft. Adrian Sexton encourages us to visit his department whenever we feel we need help. He is a wonderful professional, mentor and friend to us all.”

Winners of the Chairman’s Awards were:

• Liz Wardle for her exceptional fundraising having raised £20,000 for the Society through her wonderful concerts and sponsored music practice with her students, and quiz nights. She has shown immense dedication to the Macular Disease Society.”
• Jo Beard for her leadership of the Stroud MDS group. “Jo is very caring, she looks after members’ health and wellbeing by liaising on their behalf with such organisations as RNIB, Social Services and St Dunstans. She is in regular contact with David Drew our MP, getting him to ask questions and promote the MDS in Parliament.”
• Peggy Bradley, leader of the Leicester MDS group and longterm supporter of the Society. “Peggy has been and still is an inspiration as a group leader. She  has hugely improved the handling of patients in Leicester through the constant pressure she has put on the hospital administration to look after patients better. Her work on awareness raising with medical staff has provided a benchmark for the Society’s initiatives in this area.”
• George Cross, leader of the MDS Forth Valley group. “We… have nothing but admiration for the work George has done for the group and can sum it up with one word ‘dedication’.”

MDS Chairman Alan Alderman said: “We have been overwhelmed by the evidence of the wonderful work done all over the UK by clinicians, support and rehabilitation staff and volunteers. We had over 70 nominations and it was hard to decide who should get the awards. Many congratulations to the winners and to the very worthy nominees. Your outstanding efforts are greatly appreciated by people with MD. hanks too to the proposers who took the time to make their nominations and to the many other unsung heroes not nominated this year.”