After the Annual General Meeting held during the February meeting we were pleased to welcome Lisa Cooper, a Diabetes Specialist Nurse from the Specialist Diabetes Service at Gloucestershire Care Services.

Lisa gave a very  interesting talk on what effects diabetes has on different parts the body such as the pancreas, eyes, muscles etc.  To make it easier to understand she used some of the props and material used in the “Diabetes and You” course that the  Specialist Diabetes Service run.  One of the interesting points, which of course most with diabetes know, but probably do not always think about, was about the different ways food & drinks work in relation to carbohydrates and whether they are fast or slow acting.

Continue reading February 2016 Meeting (Part 2) – Lisa Cooper – Diabetes Specialist Nurse →

The Groups  Annual General Meeting was held during the February Meeting, of which the minutes, including the Chair’s & Treasure’s reports, have been sent to all members.

Elections took place for the Group Committee.  Margaret Skinner volunteered to join the Committee and was voted on by a unanimous vote of those present.  There were no other volunteers to join the committee.  The remaining existing Committee members put themselves up for re-election, and were again accepted by a unanimous vote.   The Committee comprises of:

• Chair
  • Mike Broome
• Secretary
  • Mike Broome
• Treasurer
  • Bob Watford
• Vice Chair
  • Mike Coombs
• Members
  • Graham Terrett
  • Kevin Powell
  • Margaret Skinner

For our October meeting we had Selina Jetha from the Diabetes and Endocrinology Clinical Programme Board (D&E CPG), for Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (GCCG). Also attending was Gail Pasquall, a Diabetes Specialist Nurse from the Specialist Diabetes Service, part of Gloucestershire Care Services NHS Trust.

Selina explained a little about what the D&E CPG do, this includes liaising with patients and patient groups, such as our Group, to get the patients views and opinions, also other health organisations such as Gloucestershire Healthwatch. The aim being to improve services for those with diabetes, one example being they are currently working with other Gloucestershire NHS trusts and organisations to create a Multi Disciplinary Foot Care Teams to be based in Gloucester & Cheltenham Hospitals, to simplify podiatry care for those with diabetes.

Gail then gave a talk on the diabetes education courses, for those with Type 2 diabetes or carers for those with the condition, available in the county that are run by the Specialist Diabetes Service. These are “Diabetes and You”, “Diabetes, Food & You” and “Diabetes, Insulin and You”.

Anyone with type 2 can attend, whether just diagnosed or requiring a reminder of what is best practice. All the courses last about 3 hours and are run by qualified diabetes nurses or dieticians. The courses are very informal with normally no more than 8 people on each course and you can book the courses yourself. To book a course either ask Mike Broome for an application form or email community.diabetesteam@glos-care.nhs.uk

For our August meeting we had a very interesting talk from Sandra Toth, a Diabetes Research Nurse from Gloucester Royal Hospital (GRH).

Sandra explained that the research at GRH is clinical research which is the study of new treatments involving humans, ranging from a new drug or vaccine to education and self management programmes.  Clinical trials and studies test whether particular treatments are safe and how well they work.

The studies can be of relative short duration or can go over several years.  They can also be part of international research programmes that can involve thousands of volunteers. Continue reading August 2015 Meeting – Sandra Toth – Diabetes Research Nurse →