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Manchester diabetes initiative highly commended at prestigious ceremony

An art project which used thousands of socks to highlight the devastating effects of diabetes-related amputation, and promote the importance of clinical research, was highly commended at a  prestigious awards ceremony.

The ‘Seven Thousand Feet’ installation was created, as part of a larger exhibition, by north west artist Christine Wilcox-Baker with socks donated by patient support groups, lower limb amputees and people living with diabetes across Greater Manchester.

Inspiration came from the shocking statistic that over 7,000 lower limb amputations per year in the UK are a result of diabetes complications – a number that has since increased to over 8,000.

Exhibited throughout the 2018 Manchester Science Festival (MSF) at the Central Library, the project helped raise awareness of the serious but often avoidable outcomes of diabetes.

The project was made a finalist in the national Quality in Care (QiC) Diabetes Awards 2019, in the category for Diabetes Collaboration Initiative of the Year – Adults. This award recognises outstanding collaborative projects that demonstrate working with internal and external stakeholders to achieve a common goal.

During the ceremony at Sanofi UK headquarters Reading on 17 October 2019, the project was highly commended in the category. 

The judges’ comments included:  

  • “This innovative idea demonstrated a great collaboration between healthcare and art, with a great focus on impact, for people with diabetes and for the unaware public.”
  • “The exhibition was a great way of educating the public, and also makes the subject matter less scary, whilst at the same time showcasing the hidden horror of amputation associated with diabetes.”
  • “It is a very effective collaboration that has the ‘wow’ factor and is different to anything else out there. The fact that this project was inclusive of everyone, regardless of if they are familiar with diabetes care or not, was a completely different way of raising awareness for the often hidden reality of limb amputation associated with diabetes.”

Seven Thousand Feet was conceived by Christine, a Manchester Metropolitan University (ManMet) alumni, and Dr Martin Rutter, Professor of Cardiometabolic Medicine and Honorary Consultant Physician at the University of Manchester and Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT). 

It was a collaboration with five Greater Manchester organisations - National Institute for Health Research Clinical Research Network (NIHR CRN), Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, MFT, ManMet and UoM. Christine also worked closely with Diabetes UK.

The artist, together with participants from all the partner organisations, including researchers, medics and artists, held outreach days, family events and science days, including on World Diabetes Day, to engage with local people and the tens of thousands of visitors to Manchester Science Festival 2018.

Central to these events was the objective to help as many people as possible find out about diabetes, get tested for the condition and discover how to get involved in NHS research opportunities to help improve future care and treatments.