UCLB News
Professor Elizabeth Murray’s legacy continues as Healthy Living reaches 20,000 milestone
29 September 2023
Healthy Living, an initiative based on the late UCL Professor Elizabeth Murray’s HeLP Diabetes programme, has reached a milestone 20,000 users, NHS England (NHSE) has announced.
The organisation today revealed, via its NHS Diabetes Programme bulletin, that Healthy Living – a programme for people with Type 2 diabetes – has now helped over 20,000 people access information and advice to help them to live better with the condition.
Based on the HeLP Diabetes programme, led by the late Professor Elizabeth Murray (UCL Institute of Epidemiology & Healthcare) and licenced by UCL Business, Healthy Living is a web-based structured education programme that supports people to learn more about Type 2 diabetes and improve their health and wellbeing.
“I found it very informative and so helpful in understanding diabetes. With this new knowledge I feel able to make more informed decisions in managing my condition,” said one user of the programme, which is available nationally, and for free, for people living with type 2 diabetes.
The news is a welcome benchmark for the legacy of Professor Murray, who died on 7 April 2023. She was a GP and will be remembered for her innovations, initially in medical education and subsequently for her international reputation in eHealth and the development of digital interventions aiming to find practical solutions to address a range of health problems.
Professor Murray’s tenacity and determination led to the development of a web-based self-management programme for people with Type 2 diabetes (HeLP-Diabetes) being licenced by NHS England for national rollout.
At the time of her death, she was working on a digitally enabled, remote, supported rehabilitation for people with Long Covid (Living With Covid Recovery).
Overall, throughout her career, Elizabeth sought to make a difference and was driven by an ambition to see robustly conducted research and evidence-based educational practice implemented to make a difference to the lives of patients and medical staff.
Her commitment to the institutional life of UCL was demonstrated by her term as Head of Research Department of Primary Care and Population Health from 2015-2018.
An NHSE article in the Healthy Living programme has recognised the valuable contributions made to the initiative by Professor Murray, UCL, UCL Business, and The Whittington Hospital NHS Trust.
Further information:
- Elizabeth Murray obituary in The Guardian
- Start signposting to the programme today using https://www.healthyliving.nhs.uk/.
- Hear more about the HeLP Diabetes journey in Episode 9 of UCLB Big Talks.