NUI Galway’s Professor Fidelma Dunne has own the overall award at the Irish Healthcare Awards 2016 as judges deemed that her research to improve pregnancy outcomes for women with diabetes, would have an outstanding impact on patient access and care while also making cost savings to service delivery.
As a result of Professor Dunne’s work, women with diabetes in pregnancy while living in the West of Ireland now have access to a bespoke and sustainable pre-pregnancy care programme. The service provides free, gold standard care to optimize their health before embarking on pregnancy. In addition, there is no airing list to attend the service.
This work which started as a research project, funded by the HRB has resulted in significant lowering of stillbirth’s neonatal deaths and congenital abnormalities for infants of mothers with diabetes which previously was significantly higher when compared to mothers without diabetes in the western region. Working with the Department of Health Economics at NUI Galway, the work has also been shown to be cost effective.
NUI Galway’s Vice-President for Research, Professor Lokesh Joshi, welcomed the award: “We congratulate Professor Dunne on winning the Irish Healthcare Award. Professor Dunne has long been an international leader in this area of research, with her leadership and expertise in the field leading to better healthcare interventions.”
Congratulating Professor Dunne and other winners, Graham Love, Chief Executive at the Health Research Board, which supports her research commented: “This, and the other award winners, are an endorsement of the power of health research to improve our health services that we deliver.”
