New UK diabetes centre to improve quality of life
January 26th 2007 Novo Nordisk and its partners in the UK unveiled a vision – to significantly improve the health of people with diabetes in the Warwickshire region within the next five years.
Lord Hunt (left) and Ambassador Birger Riis-Jørgensen unveil a plaque at the opening of the building that will house WISDEM.
The vision is called iDREAM. Created by Novo Nordisk and the Coventry and Warwick University Hospitals, iDREAM aims to significantly improve the health of people with diabetes in the Warwickshire region within the next five years.
The project is Warwickshire Institute for Diabetes, Endocrinology & Metabolism – WISDEM for short – a centre located at the University Hospital in Coventry.
On January 26th 2007, around 200 people, including the British Minister of State for Health and the Danish ambassador, attended the official opening of the centre and unveiling of the iDREAM vision.
An eye-opener
Speakers at the event presented health economic figures showing the economic impact it would have if the iDREAM targets are reached in the UK.
Audience members seemed surprised by the large potential cost savings that could be achieved if better treatment and tighter control reduced complications from diabetes.
Professor Sudhesh Kumar of Warwick University Hospital presents the iDREAM medical ambition.
“The collaboration between the hospital, the University of Warwick and Novo Nordisk in WISDEM and iDREAM is a perfect example of the partnerships that the Government would like to see develop in the National Health Service more widely,” said Minister of State for Health, Lord Hunt of Kings Heath.
Lord Hunt expressed his delight in Novo Nordisk’s collaboration, and concluded with his hope that this initiative will become “a model for how we move forward in the future.”
iDREAM and the Novo Nordisk Medical Ambition
A five-year programme launched with support from Novo Nordisk, iDREAM aims to help people with diabetes reach the treatment targets that will improve their quality of life. It includes ambitious targets for reduced hospitalisations and patient complications such as blindness or visual loss, amputations and number of deaths related to diabetes.
The iDREAM partnership is a pilot project in the Novo Nordisk Medical Ambition, which was launched in 2006.
The Medical Ambition is a large-scale initiative defining ambitious targets for improving patient outcomes and quality of life. The Medical Ambition also aims to curb public health spending through better diabetes control.
Other countries where projects have been initiated to improve patient outcomes include India, Sweden and South Korea.
In the coming months Novo Nordisk employees will learn much more about what the Novo Nordisk Medical Ambition – and how it demonstrates Novo Nordisk’s commitment to changing diabetes.
For more information about iDREAM, please contact Carolyn Fish (CAEI) or Nikolaj Mortensen (NGIM).
