New diabetes tsar appointed

Health minister Ann Keen has announced that Dr Rowan Hillson is to become the new national clinical director for diabetes.

A consultant physician and diabetologist at the Hillingdon Hospital in London, she has worked closely with colleagues to establish a successful local diabetes service.

Ms Keen expressed her delight in Dr Hillson’s appointment, indicating that her clinical and managerial experience was “invaluable” to the continued improvement in diabetes services.

The health minister went onto highlight progress in national standards for diabetes care with an additional 200,000 people identified as having diabetes and improvements noted in the use of clinical indicators.

“I know that, as clinical director, Rowan will continue that sterling work and use her skills and experience to make a real difference for people with diabetes,” she confirmed.

Dr Hillson said she was “honoured” to take up the role as the new diabetes tsar, stressing that the importance of good diabetes service could not be “underestimated”.

A new study released by the University of Leicester NHS Trust has suggested that the NHS could save 100 million pounds if diabetes specialist nurses admitted fewer patients to hospital.