Parliamentary awards presented at DUK's 75th Anniversary reception

Keith Vaz, MP for Leicester East, and Adrian Sanders, MP for Torbay and Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Diabetes, each received an award from Diabetes UK at the charity's 75th Anniversary Parliamentary Reception.

Keith Vaz won the inaugural Diabetes UK Parliamentary Champion Award and Adrian Sanders the Diabetes UK 75th Anniversary Award. The awards aim to recognise politicians who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in raising awareness of diabetes in Parliament.

Mr Sanders said: “I am honoured and touched to have received this award, but do so on behalf of all the All Party Parliamentary Group. Our aim is to inform Parliament, to inform decision making and to try and improve the lives of those with diabetes and increase diabetes prevention for others. I will continue to work hard in Parliament and am proud to help represent and support those with diabetes.”

Diabetes UK Chief Executive Douglas Smallwood, said: “With four hundred people being diagnosed with diabetes every day in the UK - equal to one person every three minutes - the condition is one of the biggest health challenges currently facing the UK.”

The novelist HG Wells and Dr R D Lawrence, both of whom had diabetes formed the Diabetic Association in 1934, which later changed its name to the British Diabetic Association. The charity’s aim was to ensure that everyone in the UK could gain access to insulin, whatever their financial situation.

This was a ground-breaking initiative prior to the existence of a national health service. The organisation has always challenged ideas of how people with diabetes should be treated and from the start believed in support to enable active self-management of the condition.