Professor Adam Gordon awarded MBE for contribution to older people's healthcare
Congratulations to Professor Adam Gordon, Clinical Associate and Consultant Geriatrician at UHDB, who has been awarded an MBE for his services to older people's healthcare.
Professor Gordon, who works in the Department for Medicine for the Elderly (DME) at the Trust, has been honoured for his contribution to patients in the community, helping to improve outcomes for those who access our hospitals as an emergency admission and providing support to care homes, to help give the older generation individualised person-centred care.
He is currently president of the British Geriatrics Society (BGS) and is also employed by the University of Nottingham, where he undertakes research on how to deliver enhanced models of healthcare to care homes, in particular for those living with Dementia or receiving end of life care.
Professor Gordon said he was humbled to receive a letter from the Cabinet Office, learning that he was being awarded the MBE for the King's Birthday honours list.
He said: "I was humbled but incredibly pleased that the work I have been doing for over a decade has been recognised in this way. Not just the work I have done, but my peers that I have worked alongside to give older patients the best possible care.
"This award recognises the growing importance of care for older people and how central it is to how we deliver health and social care to the wider population. I'm really pleased that specialists in my field are recognised with these types of awards."
After joining the Trust in 2015, Professor Gordon has played a key role in the evolution of services including the Surgical Liaison Service and the Frailty Emergency Assessment Team (FEAT) and he credits the work of his colleagues at UHDB as being the inspiration for his work in roles including that of President of the British Geriatrics Society.
He said: "One of the things that has allowed me to be effective as a national leader in this field is the fact that we have an amazing team of doctors, allied health professionals (AHPs) and advanced clinical practitioners (ACPs) and nurses working in the Department of Medicine for the Elderly at UHDB.
"I know that I can speak from a position of authority about what good care looks like because every day when I come into work I witness really exemplary care from my colleagues at the Trust and I am lucky enough to be involved in such excellent care pathways.
"If you look at some of the services we've helped to establish at UHDB as a team over the past decade, the work is world leading so the team make it very easy to talk about what good care for older people looks like."
The MBE recognises the significant impact Professor Gordon has made during his career and his expertise, which proved vital at the beginning of the pandemic when he was called on to provide support and guidance to care homes.
On behalf of the British Geriatrics Society (BGS), Professor Gordon worked with a team to research how to diagnose Covid-19 in the care home sector and was able to help provide evidence that helped the government set their testing protocols for covid in care homes. He also provided guidance to healthcare home staff to enable them to protect their residents as best as they could during the early days of the pandemic, before official guidance was released. The resource was accessed by more than 60,000 people via the BGS website.
Dr Gis Robinson, Executive Chief Medical Officer, said: “I want to share my congratulations to Professor Gordon on this excellent achievement, which recognises his commitment and contribution over many years.
“Professor Gordon has had a long and distinguished career and has had a significant impact on the care provided to older people across Derbyshire and Staffordshire.
"He puts patients at the heart of everything he does, and is dedicated to improving the quality of care and patient outcomes, and I am pleased his work has been recognised with this honour."