Professor Jugdeep Dhesi awarded prestigious William Farr Medal by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries

27 April 2023

Professor Jugdeep Dhesi, President Elect of the British Geriatrics Society and Deputy Director for the Centre for Perioperative Care, has been awarded the prestigious William Farr Medal 2022 by the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries. Professor Dhesi will be presented with her medal at the Galen & Farr Awards Ceremony and Dinner on Wednesday 24 May.

The Worshipful Society of Apothecaries’ William Farr Medal was inaugurated in 2006 and is presented annually to recognise the significant contribution by a UK healthcare professional to improving care for older people. The William Farr Medal 2022 is being awarded to Professor Jugdeep Dhesi, who is a consultant geriatrician at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital and a professor of geriatric medicine at King’s College London. The award is made in recognition of Professor Dhesi’s work as a pioneer in establishing the subspecialty of perioperative care for older people undergoing surgery (POPS). She is the co-founder and clinical lead for the innovative POPS service at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and has led the development and evaluation of this model of care to address the specific needs of older surgical patients. As Deputy Director at the Centre for Perioperative Care and through work at the British Geriatrics Society, Professor Dhesi has co-led the CPOC/BGS guidelines for people living with frailty undergoing elective and emergency surgery. Building on this work, collaboration on national audits and as clinical lead for the NHS Elect POPS network, she has supported implementation of POPS services nationally and internationally, resulting in improved outcomes for patients and cost-effective services for health systems.
 

To scale up establishment of POPS services, Professor Dhesi has developed resources to support the education and training of multidisciplinary teams to deliver perioperative care for older people. She has embedded POPS as a sub-specialty in the training curriculum for specialist registrars in geriatric medicine. This work was recognised by the RCP and GMC and is helping to shape future generations of doctors. She was included as one of the top 50 innovators in healthcare nationally by the Health Services Journal in 2014. 

In addition to her work in perioperative care, Professor Dhesi was Vice-President of Clinical Quality for the British Geriatrics Society (BGS) from 2019 to early 2022, overseeing production of vital resources on frailty, delirium and quality improvement and contributing to guidance for healthcare professionals across many clinical areas. These have become ‘go to’ resources, both for national policymakers at NHS England, and for regional and local service leaders. She was elected by the BGS membership in July 2022 to be BGS President Elect and will become BGS President in November 2024.  She was also President of the Age Anaesthesia Association from 2018 until 2020. She is widely regarded as an exemplary role model not just for aspiring geriatricians and other professionals with an interest in ageing, but for healthcare professionals more generally.

In the year preceding each William Farr Medal award, nominations are sought from members of the Worshipful Society of Apothecaries’ Court and also from the Presidents of the Royal Medical Colleges within the United Kingdom. Previous award winners include Professor Adam Gordon, Professor Gillian Mead, Professor Alasdair MacLullich, Professor Miles Witham and Professor Simon Conroy.

Professor Jugdeep Dhesi commented:

I am honoured to be awarded the William Farr Medal, on behalf of my team at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation Trust, the British Geriatrics Society and the Centre for Perioperative Care. It is only through collaboration between specialties and disciplines that we can ensure patient-centred care, support and develop our workforce and deliver value-based services for our older surgical population. I truly believe there are exciting times ahead that will help promote perioperative care for older people throughout the surgical pathway, both in the NHS and abroad.”

CPOC is a cross-organisational, multidisciplinary initiative led by the Royal College of Anaesthetists to facilitate cross-organisational working on perioperative care for patient benefit. It is a partnership between patients and the public, other professional stakeholders including Medical Royal Colleges, NHS England and the equivalent bodies responsible for healthcare in the other UK devolved nations.