The Link: Vol 11 No 6

National Diabetes Support Team
Self management has been the theme of a lot of work carried out by the NHS National Diabetes Support Team (NDST) in the past few weeks. The Year of Care for Diabetes project was kicked off with a call for applications to pilot the approach.

Year of Care describes all the planned care that a person with diabetes or another long-term condition should expect to receive over the course of a year, including support for self management. The project will test how care planning involving genuine choice and individualised care can be used to empower people with diabetes, enhance self management and improve their health outcomes. It will explore what is needed to support this in local health systems. 

The NDST has produced a factsheet on care planning, which is defined as a process offering people active involvement in deciding, agreeing and owning how their diabetes will be managed. It aims to help people with diabetes achieve optimum health through a partnership approach with health professionals in order to learn about diabetes; manage it and related conditions better; and to cope with it in their daily lives. 

Along with the factsheet, the NDST has undertaken a listening exercise on the topic of care planning to find out what healthcare professionals think of the process. It asked questions about what is happening locally, what barriers and challenges are faced and what would help improve implementation. The results of the listening exercise will be posted on the website soon.

Also coming soon to the website is a factsheet on care for children and young people with diabetes, reflecting the content of Making Every Young Person with Diabetes Matter: Report of the Children and Young People with Diabetes Working Group, which was published earlier this year.

For more information about any of these strands of work or anything else to do with diabetes, visit our website at www.diabetes.nhs.uk or contact: sally.brooks@diabetes.nhs.uk

Sally Brooks, National Diabetes Support Team

Society for Primary Care Diabetes Nurses(formerly NDFG)
Since the last entry in the Link, there have been some important changes for NDFG. We have responded to the developing needs of all nurses working in the diabetes field in primary care. NDFG was founded in 1995 with the aim of providing support for diabetes facilitators. Over the past 12 years, diabetes management has more frequently been undertaken in primary care. This includes areas of practice such as insulin initiation in type 2 diabetes, which was previously undertaken in the hospital clinic setting.

There are now a large number of nurses working mainly in diabetes who have various roles such as Practice Nurse, Community Nurse, Modern Matron and Community DSN. Responding to these changes and needs, NDFG has been renamed so that all nurses working in diabetes in the community will feel able to be a part of our supportive group. We offer you clinical networking, peer support, sharing of good practice and assistance with developing guidelines. Local meetings are planned to address local issues. Above all, we aim to help you meet the challenge of your ever-increasing work load in primary care.

The Society for Primary Care Diabetes Nurses welcomes all nurses who may value our support and expertise, coupled with our strong belief that excellent diabetes care in the primary care setting is essential for people with diabetes.

Our annual national conference for 2007 will be held on Friday 12th and Saturday 13th October at the NEC Crowne Plaza Hotel, Birmingham. Topics to be covered include diabetes and the elderly, terminal care, mental health and nursing homes. There will also be workshops looking at diet, feet and Ramadan.

If you would like further details please email: judy.downey@berkshire.nhs.uk.

Judy Downey, Chair of the Society for Primary Care Diabetes Nurses