# New Diabetes Education Campaign from Diabetes UK



## Stefan Diabetes UK (Nov 17, 2015)

Hi,

As you may have heard Diabetes UK launched a new campaign last week, which aims to make sure everyone with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes is given the chance to learn about managing their diabetes.

To get involved in the campaign you can use our new campaign page, which will allow you to send a personalised letter, calling for fairer access to diabetes education courses, to a person with influence in your area.

The campaign is called Taking Control and you can find out a little more about it on the Diabetes UK website.

Anyone from across the UK can take part and it would be great if loads of people from the forum can get involved. 

I hope the new campaign page we are using will make it a lot easier for people to get involved, especially as I know access to diabetes education is something a lot of people on here feel strongly about.

Any thoughts on the new campaign page or the campaign generally will be very useful too.

Thanks 

Stefan


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## trophywench (Nov 18, 2015)

This type of thing always sounds like an easy thing to do Stefan, but it isn't.  As you are aware the whole of the NHS is struggling and I'm sure they are mega pleased to hear that Government money will be found to fund the bombing of Syria whereas no more is available to them.

My 'local' hospital (in fact, a large teaching hospital with two Universities 'attached' to it) is struggling and currently judged to be in the main, 'Unsatisfactory' by the CQC.  Nobody needing an operation for anything including cancer, can get one without several cancellations along the way - and try getting a biopsy for it first - that can take years!

And DUK want us to campaign for more/better education.  Yes I do realise 'we' collectively are a huge drain on their resources and better education might indeed help in future (though I see no sign of DUK trying to better educate a lot of the day to day HCPs that are sposed to deal with diabetics and to me from what I see on this forum and elsewhere this needs to be done too) but it doesn't help NOW, when it's NOW they need help!

You may not agree with me that if the NHS can't provide this HCP training then it isn't DUK's, and/or 'our' collective business to provide that - but if 'we' don't - who the heck WILL?

Currently try reading threads on here from two ladies, one called Stitch and the other RosieCarmel, which amply demonstrate the parlous state the NHS are in.

And this forum is of course! only the tip of the iceberg.


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## Andy HB (Nov 18, 2015)

I think it could be effectively argued that good advice (or education, if preferred) may actually be cost effective and reduce the drain on NHS resources. 

Yes, I know this is a Utopian and possibly naive thought,  but one can dream!


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## KookyCat (Nov 18, 2015)

I'm not against education, far from it, but I think the campaign is a waste of time, money and resource when they are many more urgent needs that should be addressed.  What's the point in teaching people how to manage their diabetes if the tools to do that management aren't provided appropriately.  All this checks would be great in a ideal world, but what's the point if there isn't a charter of care that applies to every area of the country and every type of diabetes that no CCG has the right to overturn.  Check and teach all you like but they are just tick boxes on the CQC list if the infrastructure to provide care is not in place.  I support education, I support access to checks for complications, but they are insignificant in a world where people are not being provided with actual quality care.  Let's start there, then I'd be all over it.


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## Northerner (Nov 18, 2015)

I certainly benefited from the education course I received, and whilst it's true that things are (too) tight in the NHS, it's something that, if delivered well, can save money and improve quality of life. However, in many instances it is not achieving its objectives for a variety of reasons. Sometimes the education is poor quality, but the biggest problem seems to lie in the lack of support post-diagnosis. Too many medics appear to have  very limited knowledge of what manifestations of diabetes there are. It has struck me particularly over the past couple of years here that more and more people are being misdiagnosed and given unhelpful advice and treatments, because so many medics are convinced that only children can get Type 1 - certainly no adult can if they are carrying an ounce of excess weight or are aged over 25. This is a real scandal. Diabetes is complicated, but many people rely on their doctors and nurses to know more than they do about it, and this seems sadly lacking. 

So, I would like to see the healthcare professionals being educated on this most widespread, dangerous and costly condition. If they continue to give out bad advice, misdiagnoses and poor support then the huge cost of unnecessary complications will only get worse.


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## trophywench (Nov 18, 2015)

I did wonder if it just be only me.  I am pleased to see it isn't!

And yes - I benefitted so much from attending my T1 course that I - seriously actually though I joked about it at the time - wondered how the heck I'd managed to stay alive and indeed, thrive mainly,  for the previous 35 years without it!  But they continue to run those courses so I've got nothing to campaign for even though apparently the hospital fails on most counts.

I haven't a clue about T2, I don't have access to it and no way of legitimately finding out!


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## Stefan Diabetes UK (Nov 19, 2015)

Thanks for thoughts on everything everyone. Agree that, important as education is, there are a range of other issues in diabetes care at the moment, and I would emphasise although we’re are launching an education campaign Diabetes UK will continue to work on all those other issues mentioned.

I’ll try to respond to some of the specific points made though:

A few people mentioned Healthcare Professional training and although this campaign is focused on diabetes education courses for people with diabetes, Diabetes UK are still doing a lot of work to improve the levels of knowledge of healthcare professionals. There are staff here dedicated to doing just that. Some, though not all, of that work can be seen in the ‘professionals’ part of our website.

Cost and resources are always going to be an issue, but as Andy HB says quality education can be cost effective as well as improving quality of life.

On kookycat point, is true that improving overall quality of care across the country is difficult as it relies on lots of local healthcare professionals and CCGs getting things right.  It is one of the reasons we ask Diabetes Voices to let us know about care in their area and keep an eye on the performance of services through 15 Healthcare Essentials and the Diabetes Watch tool.  

I did also have a look at the threads you mentioned and can see why you and others are concerned. I’m not qualified to give any medical advice but if Stitch147 or any others would like some guidance I can recommend the Diabetes UK Careline service (0345 123 2399 or careline@diabetes.org.uk)

Good to hear there have been some positive experiences of diabetes education too. Access is very patchy around the country but certainly there’s great courses happening in some areas.

Appreciate not everyone will agree with all aspects of the campaign, but good to get everyone’s feedback. If there’s any further thoughts do let me know.


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## trophywench (Nov 21, 2015)

I had to laugh.  There I was Wednesday evening before visiting my husband in hospital, in the frock shop at UHCW - they usually have more than one something I like the look of, and unless you grab it when they have one that fits you - you won't get one!  LOL   Anyway there I was looking at some trousers but they didn't have a pocket so not really for me with my pump - and they just lie better etc.  Then I sort of got a bit trapped  up the corner between the various hanging rails by this lady who looked a bit younger than me, her mom and grandma (that was a guess, but correct)  so I commented that those were nice, I'd looked at them blah de blah.  Lady said she was T1 too - what was a pump actually like?  So I said you asked for it - undid my trousers and showed her and family the tubing and cannula, and stuck the pump in her hand as I sorted my zip out again.  Asked her if she's been on the CARBS 4 1 course?  No she said, they have asked me, but can I actually learn anything, I mean after 23 years without it ...?  I laughed and said I'd been diabetic for 35 years when I went on mine - and wondered how the hell I'd survived that long once I'd done the course - without knowing all that stuff!  Oh says she - I'll say Yes then!  Mum said that was really interesting, thank you - and I said well - we never get a flippin chance to chat to others like us do we?  Not being funny but if you unfortunately get cancer - they fall over backwards to put you in touch with your peers don't they?  But not for us!

Anyway I just thought what a coincidence it was when we'd only just been talking about education!  LOL

Oh - and I did thank my husband for his generosity and told him how clever he was to have spotted something that I really liked and bought it me - and all while he was in a bed on a ward on the third floor, and I was in a shop on the ground floor!


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## Northerner (Nov 21, 2015)

On the course I did there was a guy who had been T1 for five years but had never realised that he should be looking at carb content, not just sugar content  We've had several people on the forum in the past that had been diagnosed for decades and never heard of pumps. I think that there is often an assumption that if you were diagnosed as a child then you must 'know it all' by the time you are an adult - definitely not true!


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## Northerner (Nov 21, 2015)

If anyone would like to help Diabetes UK in their campaigns or in highlighting problems, please consider joining Diabetes Voices:
https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/boards/threads/diabetes-voices.55951/


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## pottersusan (Nov 21, 2015)

Stefan Diabetes UK said:


> Appreciate not everyone will agree with all aspects of the campaign, but good to get everyone’s feedback. If there’s any further thoughts do let me know.



Some recognition of people like me, who have had a total pancreatectomy and are neither type 1 or 2, would not go amiss. We are an ever growing number and apart from this forum there is no support for us. Diabetes UK told me I was much too complicated for them - but I am diabetic too. You must realise that lots of diabetics have other conditions to contend with too.


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## TheClockworkDodo (Nov 21, 2015)

I think that better education, both for patients and for health professionals, is a good idea in theory - I agree with Andy that it ought to be more cost-effective than not.

In practice it tends to leave out people like me - I'm not well enough (for reasons unrelated to diabetes) to attend a course.  But courses tend to be very much focused on people being in an actual physical location and if I say to health-care professionals that I can't get to them, they find this very difficult to understand.  What would really benefit me would be 
a) more online courses, using email and/or skype and/or chatrooms and/or forums, run by health care professionals who are sufficiently IT literate to do this, and 
b) courses for health professionals which teach them joined-up thinking, ie to realise that different illnesses are not mutually exclusive, and that if a diabetes patient has other conditions too, they have to learn about those conditions in order to help that patient manage their diabetes most effectively (and that in this case, the first and best thing they can do is to ask the patient for more information, and listen to the answer!).


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