An infectious diseases consultant who has revolutionised treatment options for patients in Forth Valley has been awarded the prestigious William Cullen Prize by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (RCPE).
By the time of his death in 1790 Dr William Cullen was regarded throughout the world as the most influential physician of his generation, popular university lecturer, and the author of a number of much-reprinted medical textbooks. The Prize was established to recognise excellence in teaching and/or service innovation and recipients receive a unique print of a William Cullen letter from the archive of his medical consultation letters.
Dr Amy Baggott, who has a special interest in HIV infection and the challenge of antimicrobial resistance, has been in post for less than two years but has already, working with another Consultant, Dr Manjul Medhi, set up a new service. This includes outpatient clinics for infectious diseases referral which means patients no longer have to travel to Glasgow for treatment and developing a service which allows patients requiring intravenous antibiotics who are well enough to be discharged from hospital to continue treatment as an outpatient. In its first year this benefitted more than 100 people.
Dr Baggott has also worked closely with orthopaedic surgeons, maxillofacial surgeons, cardiologists and vascular surgeons in particular, to provide shared care for a range of patients with complex conditions and helped set up infection training for trainees in Ward A31.
On receiving the William Cullen prize Dr Baggott said: “It really has been a very unexpected honour to be put forward for this prize. I owe a huge amount to Forth Valley for supporting me as a new consultant and providing me with the team and resources to take on the challenge of developing a novel service here. I love being able to do this work and could not do the job without the support of all my colleagues. It is great to work for an organisation that is committed to improving the patient experience and developing a new specialty service in this way.”
