The Link: Vol 16 No 6

NHS Diabetes
NHS Diabetes has launched a new poster campaign to promote its “safe use of insulin” e-learning training to NHS hospital staff in England. The campaign, launched in May, calls on staff to “Do the course. Save a life.” 

Safe use of insulin training is mandatory for all staff who prescribe, prepare or administer insulin. Every hospital trust has been sent a resource pack designed to encourage staff to complete the free online training.

The campaign highlights key facts to staff, including that: one in five people on an inpatient ward has diabetes; around two in five inpatients with diabetes experience a medication error; since 2003, insulin errors have led to over 17 000 safety incidents.

For further information on the e-modules visit www.diabetes.nhs.uk.

Diabetes UK
On Monday 11 June, Diabetes UK helped launch “diabetes week” by setting a new Guinness world record on the number of people to have their waist measured in a single 8-hour period.

A total of 556 people took part in the challenge, held on London’s Southbank, officially making it a new world record. The record attempt aimed to raise awareness that having a large waist increases the risk of type 2 diabetes.

The world record challenge was held to coincide with the launch of Diabetes UK and Bupa’s healthy lifestyle roadshows to identify people who are either at high risk of type 2 diabetes or already have the condition but do not know it.

Diabetes UK
Diabetes UK has responded to the National Diabetes Audit report into care processes by expressing concern with the rate of improvement.

Barbara Young, Chief Executive of Diabetes UK, said:

“The percentage of people getting their basic checks and services may be going up, but the increase is much too slow and it means that the past year has been a missed opportunity to give people the care they need […] The fact that only 38.5% of people with type 1 diabetes in England and Wales are receiving all nine care processes is extremely worrying. This means that urgent improvements are needed for services for people with type 1 diabetes.”

Diabetes UK has also expressed particular concern over the fact that people with type 1 diabetes are much less likely to get their care processes than people with type 2 diabetes.

University of Leicester
Research led by the University of Leicester concludes that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes need ongoing advice from GPs sustained over a number of years rather than a one-off session when they are first diagnosed.

Although a single programme for people with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes shows sustained improvements in some illness beliefs at 3 years, there was no sustained difference in biomedical or lifestyle outcomes.

Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry
Dr Tim McDonald from Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry has been awarded the Young Health Scientist of the Year accolade for his work developing a urine test that can help identify the 2% of young people who have maturity onset diabetes of the young (MODY).

Genetic testing can identify MODY but is too expensive to use to test all children with diabetes. Dr McDonald’s work has resulted in a non-invasive screening test that can identify children most likely to have MODY and who can therefore be selected for genetic testing. Dr McDonald also created a test kit for the diagnostic assessment.