Update from the Diabetes Fed of Ire. Public Meeting in Dublin on Nov 8th

graflynn

Just thought I would post some of the interesting things I learned at both the DFI's AGM and the public meeting in Dublin yesterday.

The AGM was a bit boring but I did want to know exactly what DFI are doing to lobby for a better health service for people with diabetes.

So in a nutshell - the DFI are running the CODE Educatioan programme for people with type 2 diabetes and the demand has become so great they are training practice nurses in doctors offices so that they can provide the course and meet the demand better.

CODE T1 for parents of children with diabetes, 10 of these were run in 2009, so far, and of course they want that to increase in 2010.

On Wednesday 11th of November the DFI will make a presentation (and perform a health screening) to 150 people in Dail Eireann. I don't know how many of that 150 are TD's.

And now for the Public Meeting report. I would like to point out that these are just things I found interesting so if anyone else who attending has more please add.

I missed the first speaker Dr. Colm Cistigan who is the Chair of the HSE Expert Advisory Group on Diabetes. From what I gather the report was published and presented to the HSE over a year ago.

Speaker #2, Dr. Barry White, National Director of Clinical Care, HSE, talked about what the HSE are doing now to implement the recommendations of the EAG report. They are waiting on the Dept of Finance to approve the appointment of a Diabetes Clinical Lead, who will basically, design & be in charge of implementing a structured system of care for people with diabetes. This will be his full time job. I welcome this but I'm sceptical! And God bless Dr. White - he's so excited about all of this and that makes me want to hug him.

He said that the way forward was in setting up Local Diabetes Implementation Groups, these would be made up of patients and professionals. it was hoped that this would be in progress by now. However, he didn't say how a person would set one up.

Speaker #3, Margot Brennan, dietitian (she's also on "How Long you will live"). This was the liviest point of the afternoon and she's provided light entertainment. She talk about the merits and dangers of "fad" dieting for people with diabetes. She covered everything! The only diets she was definate about avoiding were the ones that are single-food detox. The likes of the "cabbage-soup" diet because you are depriving your body of nutrients. She advised people to look closer at the packaging of any slimming product and to discuss it with your doctor/dietitian before attempting them. There was lots more but I wouldn't do it justice.

One comment I keep hearing over and over again was how terrible the health services were for people with diabetes (but I already new this) but it's somewhat reassuring so see some action happening.

ElBarco

Thanks for the report. Can I ask why the health service is so terrible for people with diabetes?

I can only speak for myself but I've always felt looked after. I'm not 100 percent myself but I can only blame me on that one.

graflynn

I apologise to the last poster about the delay in my reply. I had to gather the millions of thoughts, select just a few and organise them so I would seem like a lunatic:o So here it goes!

The level of care you receive Ireland varies from clinic to clinic and doctor to doctor. Most hospitals will discharge newly diagnosed patients when given only the bare minimum of knowledge on how to manage their diabetes.

Then, depending on where you live and which clinic you are referred to, the wait to see a specialist can vary from 1 week to many weeks.

Most public clinics don’t have enough diabetes nurse specialists (DNS) and they are the people who provide you with all of the vital information you need to know. If you could see a DNS on every visit you could eliminate the need to see the consultant – that’s how valuable they are to us.

Most clinics have only limited access to a dietician, another crucial service, and no access to either a podiatrist, or an optician. The patient is supposed to have eyes & feet checked every 12 – 18 months if you are in the low risk category.

Some patients with type 2 diabetes are treated only by their GP, which means that they don’t have any access to anyone with specialist training or knowledge in diabetes.

In most other countries, you are not discharged from the hospital (after diagnosis) without some form of basic training and education in how to manage your diabetes. When I say basic, I don’t mean “here’s how to inject insulin, here’s how to check your BG’s and good luck”.

In America, you are immediately sent to a Certified Diabetes Educator. In Germany, you may have to spend two weeks in a diabetes learning village on the grounds of the hospital.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Some people with diabetes are lucky in that they are complication free and they are assertive enough to ask for what they need. But a lot don’t even know what their visit to the doctor should be about.

Just before I hit the post message button I stumbled accross this article on irishhealth.ie which only goes to provide gloom http://www.irishhealth.com/article.html?id=16423