AN award-winning local nursing team is leading the country in helping patients deal with the consequences of Type 2 diabetes.
More than 100 more people are being diagnosed with diabetes every month in Worcestershire and currently the county has more than 35,000 sufferers with the condition, 90 per cent with lifestyle affected Type 2 diabetes.
Diabetic dietician Rosanne Dunkley said matters came to a head in 2014 when waiting times for patients hit 12 months.
A partnership approach involving the local doctors, the acute medical trust, the charity Diabetes UK and a private company – Map My Diabetes – was developed putting the emphasis on education.
Five different courses were offered from classroom-based work to online help to one-to-one sessions with health professions, and with astonishing results.
“2016 saw us with the greatest number of participants through these courses than anywhere else in the country,” she told a meeting of the board of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
“Waiting times are now down to less than a month and are often just two weeks with 80 per cent of patients starting a course finishing it.
“We’re now running more than 50 courses a year and 92 per cent of people who attend them realise that they need to make changes to their lifestyles.”
Such has been the success of the local scheme that it is achieving twice the reduction in blood sugar levels set by Government targets – and doing as well as many medications and without the side effects.
Not only that but the programme is also empowering patients and in some cases successfully reversing the disease.
“A lot of people are used to going to the doctor and being told what to do but with diabetes we are looking more at self management,” said Ms Dunkley. “As one patient said ‘it brought home to me my responsibility to myself’.”
Type 2 Diabetes is widely regarded as a ‘lifestyle’ issue with people who are overweight at particular risk, as are those with high blood pressure or who have had a heart attack or a stroke.
Most sufferers are over 60 but there is a growing number under the age of 40 due to the growth in obesity.
