For our April meeting we were pleased to welcome Dr Alison Evans, a Consultant Physician, Diabetes & Endocrinology at Cheltenham General Hospital to the Group to give a talk.  Also Martin Reeves, who organised a dance in February which raised funds for the Group, came along to present a cheque for £75.00, which was gratefully accepted by Mike Coombs our new Chair.

Dr Evans gave a very interesting talk, covering  her background in diabetes care, her current role and also how diabetes is now treated in Gloucestershire.  She first gave one statistic, that surprised many in the audience, that there are around 35,000 people in Gloucestershire with diabetes, of which approximately 5% are Type1 the rest Type 2.

She then explained that the two main Gloucestershire Hospitals (Cheltenham General & Gloucester Royal) primarily treat those with Type 1 diabetes with complex issues.   Treatments vary depending on the individual and their circumstances, which can vary from expectant mothers, those with other serious conditions, to those with jobs that require special consideration.  Alison said this is what makes her job so interesting, there is no standard treatment, each has to be tailored to the individual.

Drt Evans also talked about some of the newer drugs available for diabetes treatment such as Incretin mimetics / GLP-1 analogues and SGLT2 inhibitors.  More info on these and other drugs etc can be found on the Diabetes UK website, follow this link:  Treatments and Medication

Overall it was a very interesting and educational talk and I would like to thank Dr Evans for giving up her evening to come and talk to us.