Dr Arun Baksi - consultant physician
Isle of Wight Healthcare NHS Trust
When Dr Arun Baksi was appointed consultant physician at St Mary's Hospital, Isle of Wight, he set about building a service for diabetes patients from scratch."There was no formal service for people diagnosed with the condition and the logical thing for me to do was to develop it. I wanted to implement my own ideas, and I like involvement with people and diabetes gives you just that."That was 25 years ago, and since then Arun, 64, has steadily nurtured a service which culminated in the opening of a purpose-built £250,000 diabetes centre in 1991 funded by public donations. The centre houses a multi-disciplinary team enabling patients to be cared for in a one-stop shop. They are also able to drop in as and when they need help.Arun has also been instrumental in raising the profile of diabetes.On receiving his award, Arun said: "This is fantastic, unbelievable. I retire later this year after 41 years in practice and it is my goal to train patients to become teachers. This money will help do that."
Dr Arun Baksi is also Chair of the Diabetes Industry Group, whose participants include BIVDA members. The Group aim is to improve the education of diabetes healthcare professionals.