Coeliac UK, the national charity for people with coeliac disease, presents the awards to recognise the hard work and commitment of extraordinary people across the UK who provide outstanding assistance to those with the disease and go the extra mile.

Ruma Kinkead-Weekes, who is employed by Eastern and Coastal Kent Community Services and is a senior dietitian at the William Harvey Hospital was presented with the award at the Ashford hospital by Coeliac UK on Monday (17 August).

She was nominated by the local coeliac support group, who explained, “She is extremely well qualified and has vast experience. She is such an asset to the group dealing with queries in a friendly fashion and especially the newly diagnosed who she will spend so much time with and do personal follow-ups. Ruma has such a warm, bubbly personality and talks utter common sense and makes living on a gluten-free diet seem like fun and thoroughly deserves the award.”

On winning the award, Ruma said, “I am chuffed and delighted to have been nominated by the group and it is a personal and professional honour of the highest kind – to have won the category is just so many cherries on the top of the cake! It is also a personal affirmation that I have done something valuable. I see dietetics as a role that should support someone to become an expert manager in their own long term condition.”

The Award for Healthcare Professional was sponsored by Juvela, Claire Monks, Marketing Manager, who said: “Juvela are delighted to once again be supporting Coeliac UK’s awards and are proud to acknowledge those health professionals who work with their local coeliac community to deliver the best care they can.

"Ruma Kinkead-Weeks is a shining example of a dietitian who goes above and beyond her professional duty to make a real difference to the lives of her coeliac patients as they adjust to their new gluten-free way of living.”

Coeliac disease is an autoimmune disease caused by intolerance to gluten, which causes an inflammation in the gut. Left untreated, the disease can lead to more serious conditions, such as osteoporosis, infertility or bowel cancer. The only treatment for coeliac disease is sticking to a strict life-long gluten-free diet.

At least 1 in 100 people in the UK has coeliac disease; so for hundreds of thousands of people in the UK, being careful about what they eat is not just a faddy diet – it is an essential way of life.

For more information about coeliac disease please go to www.coeliac.org.uk