The Link: Vol 13 No 1

RCN Paediatric & Adolescent Diabetes Special Interest group
Progress means change, and at the end of 2008 for the RCN Paediatric & Adolescent Diabetes Special Interest Group (RCN PADSIG) this meant a change in the running of the group’s annual conference and annual general meeting. For the first time this was held alongside the British Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes (BSPED) annual conference, with a day dedicated to paediatric diabetes nursing issues and access to the second day of BSPED diabetes presentations.

The 2008 conference was the first in a 3-year period of joint RCN PADSIG/BSPED conferences, and the 2009 conference will be held in Reading on the 11–12 of November. It is important to note that all information concerning the RCN PADSIG conference and AGM will be carried on the BSPED website, and that online booking is required. Follow the “BSPED meetings” link on www.bsped.org.uk for more information. Details will appear within the RCN communities webpages in the near future, at www.rcn.org.uk.

Further changes will occur within the RCN with regards to restructuring of forums and special interest groups throughout 2009. PADSIG will continue to function as an RCN group, and will remain within the umbrella of the Children and Young Persons (CYP) nursing group. The changes will occur within the structure of the CYP group, with a reduction in the number of sub-forums from nine to five. Within these sub-forums the numbers of groups will be reduced, with some groups merging. PADSIG is planned to move from the Community Nurses Children’s Forum to the CYP Specialist Nurses Forum. For our members this will hopefully result in a clearer representation within the RCN. PADSIG committee members are representing the group at the RCN Congress in May, and the forthcoming “25 years of Children’s Nursing” event in September.

Finally, a request for volunteers. There is a co-opted committee position available for an interested person to undertake a review of our “Streetwise” leaflets, and to develop up to two new titles. Anyone interested in finding out more about the role of a co-opted committee member can contact me on [email protected] for more information.

Jonathan Mimnagh, RCN Paediatric & Adolescent Diabetes Special Interest Group

National Diabetes Support Team
The National Diabetes Support Team (NDST) is going through an exciting period of change.

Anna Morton was appointed as the new director in December 2008, and is working hard to produce a comprehensive plan for the future of the team. Anna has joined from Yorkshire and Humber Strategic Health Authority, where she was the Programme and Strategic Integration Lead for Diabetes.

She said: “The team has so much potential to help to make significant improvements to the way care is delivered to people with diabetes. I am looking forward to harnessing that potential and helping to drive a programme that will make a real difference to people’s lives. We have an exciting period in front of us and I’m relishing the challenge.” Already Anna has highlighted care planning and commissioning as key themes in taking the team forward.

Meanwhile, work is ongoing to simplify the NDST website to make it easier to navigate for healthcare professionals. The team has also released a number of Infopoints – one-page case studies promoting best practice in diabetes care – in recent weeks. One is about a pregnancy project in Bournemouth called Diabetes Concept, which gives support to women with diabetes in the build-up to pregnancy. The project aims to engage women before they fall pregnant by involving pharmacists in information distribution. Local pharmacists give out patient education through the “medicines use review”, or through written information provided to them by the diabetes team at Bournemouth, with the aim of reducing the risks associated with pregnancy and diabetes and offering a fast-track referral to the preconception clinic.

Another is about a telephone-based care management programme for people with diabetes in Birmingham. The scheme is the first large-scale telephone-based care management service designed for people with long-term conditions and resulted in a 48% reduction in hospital admissions in its first year. These are available at our website: www.diabetes.nhs.uk.

Oliver Jelley, National Diabetes Support Team