NICE Guidance on Diabetes

The DAFNE Programme team have asked us to publish this information on our news page. It relates to a new document issued by NICE ( UK medical body) regarding Diabetes. If I sound a bit cynical in the news article its because NICE publish lots of guidance but none of it is actually mandatory and so the NHS is free to do what it wants. The idea of people being given structured education within 12 months of Diagnosis would be great if it wasn't for the fact that in my area the waiting list to do a course is about 18 months, So even if you are referred for a course within 12 months you won't actually do one. They also say that Diabetics should be allowed to manage their own diabetes if admitted to hospital, someone needs to tell nurses this I had to be very firm, borderline rude when they tried to take over my management when I was in hospital. However not everyone is a 'difficult' person like me and will accept their management being taken over on the grounds that the nurse knows best ( not unless they are a Diabetes nurse and even then sometimes no )

Anyway have a read and see what YOU think......

Hi Mark, On the hospital situation...here in Australia I was told by the doctor that it was my responsibility and the nurses would not be involved...great! I took my pump off to have a shower and left it on the bed as I do at home only to find out the nurse had taken it because I was not a diabetic or in need of insulin.

It was a shared room and my room mate was quite happy to report this. Tried to get it back by going to the nurses station but no luck. Ended up getting a message to the doctor who "fixed" the situation. I was without it for over an hour!!!! The nursing staff then took an extraordinary interest in my insulin doses and wanted to record every time I took some insulin...pump users will know how ridiculous this is!

I was in an infectious diseases ward!

Helen

I have a spare kit containing BG meter, jelly beans, needles and an insulin pen. It has instructions inside on what insulin to take from the fridge. If I end up in hospital, my wife will bring it to me, and I will not be telling the medical staff about it. It will be my backup for if they take my primary kit off me. I have heard too many horror stories of well meaning staff putting our lives at risk from their ignorance and I am taking no chances.

Thinking about it, I might also get my excellent GP to write me a letter stating that I have excellent blood glucose control and am fully aware of how to make necessary changes to my insulin doses and that can be included in the kit.

I have also made my wife a medical power of attorney so that if I am in no state to make decisions, she can make them on my behalf.

Warwick,
Re the hospital admission for the blood infection (above post). The ambos came...I had been conscious enough to ring but had passed out before they got there. They were standing around as I regained consciousness and had read a "sign" I keep on the fridge ..."I am a diabetic etc etc". They had checked my BG and it was fine. They collected the insulin stuff I keep in a bag similar to yours with everything I would need for a week as well as the insulin from the fridge. I think if you are in a private hospital you have much more say but as I had arrived less than 6 hours ago from Korea they wanted to put me in an infectious ward until they found out what it was...hence the big public hospital.

The ambos also check for next of kin details etc in a purse or wallet. Do you have an ICE number in your phone? I was encouraged to put (my son's name as an ICE (In Case of Emergency) number. Have never needed it but it is there. Ambos are trained to look fro it apparently.

Trust we can stay out of hospital!!! Helen

Hello Helen, I have ICE in my phone, and I also wear a RoadID except when I sleep - https://www.roadid.com/c/roadid-wrist-sale I have not needed it yet, but I am sure that I will need it one day.

hhmmm, seems medical staff are the same the world over :-( They mean well but think their training equips them to have understanding of stuff they don't fully grasp. As I said all you need is a firm attitude and they do as they are told usually ;-)

As a child (in early 90s, so hopefully better now?) I broke my arm, rushed to hospital as expected. With stress and cortisol etc... my BG was 17, first thing nurses and docs did was put me on a glucose drip! They couldn't get my BG down after that for ages!