IT’S celebrations all round as one a Somerset community dietitian has gained a top prize in the prestigious 2024 Dr Falk Pharma/Guts UK Charity national awards held in Birmingham.

Leah Seamark, who has led Somerset NHS Foundation Trust’s community dietetic gastro service for almost five years, won the Dietitian Recognition Prize, on behalf of her team, for their work in giving dietary advice to patients with a wide range of gut conditions including irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and coeliac disease – all via a series of webinars and a website.

Leah was thrilled to have won the award, which is jointly run by Guts UK, the charity for digestive conditions in the UK, and Dr Falk Pharma UK, a pharmaceutical company that develops medications for digestive and metabolic diseases.

The awards, which are now in their 19th year, reward medical students, trainee doctors, dietitians, nurses and pharmacists working within GI and hepatology. The dietitian award recognises innovative work that improves the care of patients with digestive conditions.

Leah said: “I’m really proud to have won this award as in Somerset our track record with providing innovative dietetic interventions for IBS is great, as we established the first UK dietetic-led primary care gastroenterology clinic back in 2011, which was led by former dietetic colleague Marianne Williams.

“This project has been ongoing since 2014, beginning with the development of a webinar aimed at patients with IBS.”

The 2025 Dr Falk Pharma/Guts UK Awards open in December. To find out more visit https://drfalk.co.uk/hcp/dr-falkgutsuk-awards/