Site Development

Hi Simon, the forum doesn't seem to be very active at the moment. Hopefully people can start to share their problems/achievements etc on here.

I think the main website could do with more graphics/photos.

Hi Neil,
I am very impressed by your enthusiasm and suggestions to make the DAFNE website more user friendly for everyone. We have had recently a number of new users interested in improving our site. Yes it is very sad the huge amount of ex DAFNE graduates who never comeback to our site and just disappear into the abyss. Suggestions to improve our site need to be taken seriously to minimise the loss of first timers who never reappear.
It would also be a wonderful opportunity at the start of the new year to invite all members to make positive comments and suggestions on how to improve the forum pages. Why not make this our major goal/outcome for 2020 with a major heading.? Another suggestion may be to improve the italics to modernise the site.

It has been stated beforehand that there is no relationship between DAFNE central, that is the DAFNE courses provided in hospitals, and the forum pages voluntarily run by yourselves. In fact, I find this surprising and implausible due to the fact the DAFNE logo is used by both entities yet there appears to be a lack of communication, funding etc between the two organisations. This is a terrible shame for the forum with the thousands of past users and past participants listed on your website yet the apparent lack of communication, coordination, contact or funding between DAFNE central and this forum. Something must be done to improve this site for the benefit of all members.

Hi Torana, thanks very much for your reply. Yes, i am surprised there is a lack of activity. It was presented to us during the course as being a place that we can come to share problems etc. I have joined Freestyle Libre groups on Facebook but the comments on there are mostly by people who haven't completed the DAFNE course, so they are unenlightened! I was also surprised that there isn't a DAFNE group on facebook, maybe having that could promote this site and forum more and reconnect graduates who have lost contact since the course?

Hi Neil and Torana,

Thanks for your feedback - as you know we run this in our spare time so it sometimes takes a while to get around to making updates. We are also currently working with DAFNE central to make it more obvious that we are a graduate run and focused site, but equally would like to retain the DAFNE branding and more importantly access to updated DAFNE resources. There should be some updates on that coming soon.

I'm currently working on tidying up and improving the look and feel of the site so to your point about graphics or photos then let me know what specifically you'd like to see, as well as any other ideas for improvement to the site.

Finally there is a DAFNE Facebook Group which you can join too.

Simon

Thanks for the reply Simon. I was just thinking maybe some general pictures of people on the course or putting DAFNE into practice in their everyday lives, showing how worthwhile it has been. Thanks for the Facebook link, i have just requested to join. It didn't show up on a search as i entered DAFNE without the full stops.

Hi Simon,
Many thanks for your positive reply. Yes it’s imperative that there is communication between both websites. Well Done! It is obvious that the services DAFNE UK provides is in the hospitals. Its primary mission is not its website or the 51000 ex graduates on the outer. Links, online post education, clear information about our DAFNE online site, and rapport/communication between our two websites are imperative considering that we now know through current medical research that in the long term 90% of Type1 diabetics, including the 51000 ex graduates, are outside the normative range of HBA1C. The responsibility lies with DAFNE UK not only to conduct courses in hospitals but to support and further develop a community where ex grads feel they can get advice and assistance.
Basically, DAFNE UK needs to change it’s mission statement to incorporate and support the 51000 ex graduates, not just state 51000 Type1 diabetics have been through the courses. It is clearly not up with current medical research where 90% of Type1 diabetics are outside the normative ranges! There’s a real need for an update on their mission statement and website!

Hi, Sorry just catching up with this thread. I should also say immediately that this post represents my personal opinions rather than necessarily those of the site. I say this as I have a bad habit of getting myself in trouble
So I totally agree with your points on the need to support the 51000 ex graduates. Sadly this IS appreciated by the DAFNE Programme team and has been raised repeatedly at Annual DAFNE conferences I have attended and by many graduates. However not a large amount of concrete action is taking placed to address this. There is now a DAFNE Plus version of the course being worked on that will supposedly have more after course support but I am not sure when that will happen. We have sort of lost contact with the development of this, to be honest I don't think they understand exactly how to do it. One of the biggest issues with it all is NHS politics. I'm sure its not just the UK that have these issues, but they are very wary of communicating directly on our site as are the HCP's and Dieticians that do the courses. They think that anything they say on here can be construed as medical advice and they could be sued if it was not used appropriately. Sadly the still live in the 1980's/1990's and think the internet doesn't really exist as an eveyday thing. The only way we will ever get effective after course support is if medical professionals are allowed to post on forums etc without the idea that they can be legally bound by what they say. Lets be honest the internet is FULL of people who think they are Diabetes experts, just like every other subject :-) I think we all learn to take anything we read with a degree of cynicism and want more than one suggestion before we do anything. We have tried many times to get more support for the site and although everyone 'wants' to help very little help actually comes from Medical Porfessionals. That's just the way it is at the moment.