Access to courses.

Hi,

Please forgive me if this is an old topic, as I am new to this site today.

Having recently been fortunate enough to be offered a place on a DAFNE couse, my question is, is there anyway that someone who lives in an area which doesn't run courses, access a Dafne course?

My daughter, who is 29 years old, has been admitted to hospital with DKA on three occasions and is also keen to start a family. I feel that she would benefit enormously from attending a course but there are no plans in her area.

Regards.

Vic.

Vic,
The answer to this is not currently, however one of the reasons for having the DAFNE User Group ( DUG) and electing the DAFNE User Action Group (DUAG) is to try to do something about this. There is a forum on this site dedicated to the DUAG/DUG where you can find more information. You should have been given a form to join the DUG when you did your DAFNE course, ideally we would like more people to fill in these forms and join. All the info about the DUAG and DUG is in the forum, but
basically its the 'user' part of the DAFNE programme that will help influence the future of DAFNE and promote DAFNE both to Diabetics and Primary Care Trusts ( who
fund the DAFNE course). It is by 'pressuring' PCT's to run DAFNE that we can increase the opportunity of all Diabetics to benefit from the course.

Hi Marke,
Thanks for the reply. My form was emailed in yesterday, soon after registration. Will try to find the links you mention.
Many thanks.
Vic.

I live in Milton Keynes which does not run DAFNE courses but my GP along with a group of others persuaded the PCT to fund patients who wanted to do a DAFNE course in Northampton. The theory is that if they have to fund enough people 'they'll see the light' and start thinking about running the courses in MK. So it really is worth keeping the pressure on.

Thanks for the information Mandy, my daughter is not a million miles from you in Aylesbury. Was talking with her yesterday and she has a check up at hospital soon, so will tell her to push them for a place.

Before my hospital started offering DAFNE courses I was offered a transfer to a hospital that was offering the service. This was partly in response to my raising the subject at every appointment. The downside to the offer was that all care would have moved to the hospital offering DAFNE, which was something I did not want to do. Luckiiy for me UCHL started offering DAFNE soon after. The MK appraoch sounds good, if you can achieve something similar. The options around Aylesbury are Northampton (as mentioned) plus Bedford and Harrow or going to central London.
If you can achieve any interest in your local hospital starting to offer DAFNE, then there are a range of materials available from the Central DAFNE team on the benefits for the PCT. Either Marke or myself can put you in contact with DAFNE Central if required.