The Link: Vol 13 No 6

Diabetes Inpatient Specialist Nurse (DISN) Group
The morning session of the May meeting of the Diabetes Inpatient Specialist Nurse (DISN) Group was organised by members of the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement on facilitating the ThinkGlucose toolkit. This was an excellent session, which provided an overview of the toolkit and what needs to be done to implement it. Participants were guided through the toolkit, and were able to take one back to their hospital. Acute hospital Trusts that register for the ThinkGlucose project will receive up to ten toolkits free of charge.

Following lunch, Dr John Dean from NHS Bolton gave an excellent insight into what DISNs can do to influence the commissioning of diabetes services in their hospitals.

It is really gratifying that the DISN UK Group has been asked for representation on a number of different diabetes initiatives. Two of our members are involved with NDIS (National Diabetes Information Services), and at the meeting another member volunteered to attend an NHS Diabetes supported workshop that aims to address the correct classification of diabetes. Three members of our Group have been invited to meetings of the Joint British Diabetes Societies (JBDS) for Inpatient Care Group, which is backed by the Department of Health and Diabetes UK.

The DISN Group has been asked by the JBDS, as part of their development of inpatient diabetes guidelines, to write a guideline for hypoglycaemia. There was a lively discussion and comments on the draft hypoglycaemia guideline, which has been written by myself and Esther Walden, Chair of DISN UK. It was emphasised that although this guideline is intended for national use, it can be adapted for each individual Trust’s needs.

As in previous years, the day was evaluated highly and we look forward to meeting later in the year. To obtain minutes, or for information on becoming a group member, please contact the group administrator, Christine Jones, on 01603 288206 or [email protected].

Debbie Stainsstreet, Acting Chair

Diabetes UK
Diabetes UK has revamped two of its most requested leaflets – Understanding Diabetes and Eating Well With Diabetes. Both have been updated with the latest information and advice for people with diabetes, and there are now separate leaflets for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

To order these invaluable leaflets free of charge, please visit www.diabetes.org.uk/onlineshop or call 0800 585 088.

Membership
Membership of Diabetes UK has changed from a flat rate, to a system based on donations, known as “Supporting Membership”. Professional membership of Diabetes UK can make your job easier if you support people with diabetes, or are involved in diabetes research.

Your professional membership of Diabetes UK can be key to staying up-to-date on best practice, care delivery, new treatments and the latest news on diabetes research findings. It means that you may be able to support people with diabetes more effectively, and be in better control of your increasing caseload.

Diabetes UK will put all the information you need at your fingertips, help you ease patients’ concerns and help them to manage their condition as effectively as possible. And you’ll be joining a growing network of other professional members like you who want to stay informed.

For more information on membership costs and benefits (including resolvent discounts on conference fees), please contact our Supporter Services team:

• By telephone: 0845 123 2399, Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm.
• By email: [email protected]
• By post: Supporter Services, Diabetes UK, 10 Parkway, London NW1 7AA.

Sarah Milsom, Diabetes UK

NHS Diabetes
A national community of paediatric networks from every Strategic Health Authority area is being launched as part of an NHS Diabetes drive to raise the quality for care for young people.

NHS Diabetes, which supports healthcare professionals in raising the quality of diabetes care in England, is behind the move to look at linking regional paediatric networks across the country.

The team’s director and regional programme managers met with paediatric clinical leads representing all Strategic Health Authorities on 4  June to discuss the way forward. The aim was to get the networks to work together to improve services to meet the expectations set out in the Every Young Person with Diabetes Matters policy document.

Anna Morton, Director of NHS Diabetes, said: “We will be supporting the increasing aspiration to improve diabetes paediatric care by facilitating a flow of information between the regional networks, and by reflecting issues and learning back to be discussed at national level.”

NHS Diabetes is pleased to announce that two new regional programme managers have joined the team. Sarwar Khan will be supporting the East Midlands, while Trudi Akroyd will serve the North West.

Sarwar, who started on 1 June, previously worked for Yorkshire and the Humber Strategic Health Authority as a project manager. Trudi joins from Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust where she was the project manager for the Year of Care pilot site in the area, before this position she was lead nurse for diabetes services in the trust. She starts on 1 August.

Our Yorkshire and the Humber regional programme manager, Mark Hannigan, is moving to provide support to the South East, so we are currently recruiting to fill the vacant position.

The team now has regional programme managers in place for every Strategic Health Authority apart from the South West Coast, but we are recruiting for this position.

Regional managers act as facilitators, helping to bring about positive change to services in the Strategic Health Authority area they work in. As well as keeping an eye on what’s going on locally, they are in tune with the national diabetes agenda – which they help to communicate to their region. They also ensure regional perspectives are fed back to a national level.

NHS Diabetes was relaunched with fresh objectives early this year, having previously been the National Diabetes Support Team.

Oliver Jelley, NHS Diabetes