Congratulations to healthtalk.org collaborators Professor Jenny Kitzinger & Professor Celia Kitzinger (Cardiff University) who have won the “Outstanding Impact on Public Policy” Award from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). This is the second ESRC Impact prize the sisters have won. It was awarded for work that came about from their healthtalk.org project on family experiences of permanently vegetative and minimally conscious states.
Outstanding impact on society
In 2014 Celia and Jenny won the ESRC’s 2014 award for “Outstanding Impact on Society” for the healthtalk.org coma resource published that same year. The award recognised that the resource had helped families share experiences, understand medical and legal information about their loved one’s condition, and think through their own role in decisions about treatment.
Outstanding impact on public policy
Now, in 2021, Jenny & Celia have won the ESRC’s award for “Outstanding Impact on Public Policy”. In the years since the resource was published, the pair have built on the insights and networks established in the healthtalk.org project to change the law. Their research found that doctors were continuing to treat coma patients in cases where families and clinicians agreed it no longer in the patient’s best interests. The only way to challenge this was through the courts. The Kitzinger sisters worked with families, healthcare and legal professionals to change this.
The charity would like to congratulate Celia and Jenny on this well-deserved award and thank them for all their hard work developing and in promoting the resource to help families.
This brochure contains more details about the Kitzingers’ work (see page 8) and the work of other finalists for the ESRC Impact prize.
