Leading Offaly GP receives prestigious award for 30 years’ work in transforming Diabetes Care in Ireland.

Lifetime Achievement Award for Dr Velma Harkins in recognition of outstanding work, visionary and inspiring leadership in Irish General Practice and Medicine.

The Chair of the ICGP’s Diabetes Task Group, Dr Velma Harkins, a Banagher-based GP, has received the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award at the joint NUIG-UCC Annual Diabetes Conference.

This award acknowledges her exceptional vision and leadership in enhancing Type-2 Diabetes care in Ireland. Dr Harkins moved the care of people with diabetes from a hospital-centered model to structured diabetes care in general practice.

The Midlands HSE Diabetes Structured Care Project was founded over two decades ago by Dr Velma Harkins.

This initiative currently manages over 4,000 patients across 30 GP Practices. Professor Ivan Perry demonstrated that the parameters of clinical care for this large cohort of patients was equivalent to the top quartile of the English National Audit Data; an unparalleled achievement. Dr Harkins’ leadership was instrumental in creating guidelines for community-based diabetes care and these guidelines transformed the management of patients with diabetes across Ireland.

In his tribute, Professor Ivan Perry, Professor of Public Health, University College Cork, said:

“In meeting Velma, I encountered someone who combines her passion and enthusiasm for Diabetes care with a sense of humour and mischief. Someone who is not afraid to say what she thinks, if it needs to be said and someone who is very difficult to say “No” to! These are key attributes of visionary and inspiring leaders, of social entrepreneurs who literally change the world for the better.”

Professor Perry added:

“The impact of Velma’s work and leadership on diabetes care in Ireland has been profound. We all remember when type 2 Diabetes was a “hospital-managed” disease and it is not an overstatement to say that Velma single-handedly dragged her colleagues, the wider medical profession and the ICGP towards her vision for high quality T2DM care in every community, delivered by GPs and Practice Nurses.”

“Her work on integrated diabetes care has also prepared the ground and the framework for the current HSE Chronic Disease Management programme. She is the GP Lead (and sole GP voice) on the National Screening Advisory Committee of Breastcheck, and a founder and Chair of the Offaly MIDOC Out-of-Hours co-op.”

On receiving her award Dr Harkins said:

“I am both humbled and honoured to receive this award. It has been quite a journey over the last 22 years with input from many others along the way, but I am delighted to see the fruition of all the hard work with the roll out this year of the national chronic disease programme with diabetes at the forefront. It is very positive that resources have been allocated to support GPs to deliver a high-quality service for patients in general practice.”

Dr Diarmuid Quinlan, Clinical Lead on Diabetes for the ICGP, said:

“Velma is an inspiration to a generation of GPs across Ireland. She combines clinical excellence, with an unwavering focus upon the needs of the patient. She is a great friend, mentor, patient advocate and an exceptional general practitioner. This award is a small token to publicly acknowledge the esteem in which we hold Velma.”

Fintan Foy, Chief Executive Officer of the ICGP said:

“This award is a welcome recognition of the great work and leadership that Dr Velma Harkins has given in the delivery of structured diabetes care in general practice in Ireland. Velma’s passion for this approach is obvious in all her work; her ready smile and sense of humour, as well as her energy, are a key element of her achievements. We congratulate Velma on this well-deserved award.”

ISSUED BY: Aileen O’Meara, Communications Consultant, Irish College of General Practitioners.
Tel. 01 2542984 / 087 2239830.
Email: icgp.news@gmail.com