NRI
Dr Sanju George's team wins prestigious national award in UK
London, April 14, 2008
Lal Singh
NRI Dr Sanju George along with two experienced GPs, Dr Wallace
and Dr Saikia, won Britain’s esteemed national award for
proving that addictions specialists and GPs can overcome traditional
boundaries to provide top quality treatment to drug-using patients.
Dr Sanju is a consultant in addiction psychiatry at The Bridge,
the specialist drug service in Solihull, which is part of the
Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health Trust (BSMHT) in West
Midlands. NHS Trusts from across the country contributed to over
200 applications across 15 categories for this year’s prestigious
Hospital Doctor Awards.
The team were selected as the winners of the One Vision award
for their ‘very clear feel for leadership and team-working
across the primary and secondary care divide’.
Its main objective is for stable drug users to be treated by
their own GPs, which provides them with an opportunity to receive
holistic care in a less stigmatising environment. Shared care
is defined as the joint working of addiction specialists and GPs
in treating patients with drug misuse problems and it is a well-established
and proven alternative to specialist treatment provision. The
objective is for the more stable drug users to be treated by their
own GPs: ‘GPs also have a role in the provision of care
and treatment of drug misusers within a system of ‘shared
care’ with a specialist drug service
Dr Sanju George said:
- I was delighted to receive the award. This gives recognition
to a unique partnership between GPs, nurses, local pharmacists
and senior managers in the Drug Action Team, Care Trust and
at BSMHT.
- I am grateful to my team at The Bridge for their hard work
and their support. Patients are thrilled with the new system
and more Solihull GPs are now prepared to take on prescribing
for their own patients.
- Our team set up facilities to dispense substitute treatment
for the substance abusers admitted at the specialist addiction
unit in Bosworth Medical Centre Mental Health Clinic in Solihull.
- This is the first scheme of its kind in the country, the
award was proof of the hard work between consultants and GPs
to provide a seamless, innovative service across BSMHT and the
Solihull Care Trust. The scheme is based at the Chelmsley Wood
Primary Care centre.
