DIABETES
ThE DESMonD ProgrAMME IS DESIgnED To SUPPorT PATIEnTS WITh DIABETES To SElf MAnAgE ThEIr ConDITIon ThroUgh EDUCATIon. JUDITh DUrrAnT, DESMonD EDUCATor WIThIn ThE norThErn hEAlTh AnD SoCIAl CArE TrUST, TEllS PIf hoW PhArMACISTS CAn PlAy A KEy rolE In SIgnPoSTIng PATIEnTS To ThIS UnIQUE ProgrAMME
Educating patients in by Judith Durrant
DESMonD is a national, structured patient education programme for people with Type 2 diabetes, which was developed by a team of professionals in response to nICE guidelines. DESMonD – which stands for Diabetes Education and Self-Management for ongoing and newly Diagnosed - is a name associated with a number of enterprises in diabetes and you can check out the background, evaluations and developments on the DESMonD website
www.desmond-
project.org.uk
Since november 2015, there have been four DESMonD Educators and one Project lead employed to deliver DESMonD in the northern health and Social Care Trust. Education sessions are regularly delivered for those who are newly diagnosed and also for those who have had Type 2
Diabetes for any length of years and would benefit from further supportive education.
At present, we use the following venues: Mid-Ulster hospital, robinson hospital, Causeway hospital, Whiteabbey hospital, Moyle hospital, Antrim Area hospital and Ballymena health and Care Centre.
DESMonD is a full-day session comprising six hours of interactive education and several refreshment breaks, so it can be a long day for some. We now offer people the option to attend two three-hour sessions, or evenings depending on their needs, but this needs to be stated clearly on the referral.
The participants report to learn a lot about the causes of their Type 2 Diabetes and the treatments available. They grow in confidence with regards understanding their own
self management
blood results and they are given time to make personal goals about lifestyle changes, if they wish. They go away with useful, professional resources and are sign-posted to other professionals, evidence-based resources, local support groups and charities, eg, Diabetes UK to further their self-management.
As a pharmacist, you will come across many people with Type 2 Diabetes, so please make them aware of DESMonD. If you wish to observe a DESMonD programme do please get in touch.
you can reassure your patients it is designed for anyone, in the northern Trust, who may wish to learn more about managing their diabetes better and about preventing the risk of long- term health complications in a relaxed environment. gPs, practice nurses, diabetes specialist nurses and dietitians have been referring to
us, but we feel pharmacists have a unique relationship with people with Type 2 Diabetes and could really sell DESMonD positively to ensure patients are not anxious or wary about group education.
Please phone the nhSCT DESMonD Self-Care Team on 028 27661478 for more information and/or to request referral forms, posters or leaflets. Alternatively, you can email DesmondDiabetesCourse@northern
trust.hscni.net.
If you are not working within the nhSCT, please be aware that other areas offer DESMonD. Bear in mind that, if someone is referred from the nhSCT, but works outside the nhSCT, we can discuss with our counterparts re attending their programme, if it is a more suitable venue for getting back in to work, following the DESMonD session.
Una o’farrell, Pharmacy lead on the Causeway Integrated Care Partnership (ICP), believes that DESMonD offers pharmacy yet another opportunity for patient education.
‘Education is extremely important for patients with diabetes – both those newly diagnosed and those already receiving treatment. The Causeway ICP had already been doing some excellent work for diabetes patients through the diabetic foot initiative, but we then decided to focus on rolling out the DESMonD programme since there was nothing formally in place with regard to patient education in this area.
‘DESMonD offers patients the opportunity – and the motivation – to take control of their own condition and, as a result, to reduce their chances of their diabetes worsening. ‘While every healthcare professional can technically refer a patient to DESMonD, at the moment only gPs have access to the referral forms.
‘But it is incumbent on pharmacists, as probably the most easily accessible healthcare professionals, to identify those patients, who may, for example, have had a change in their medication, and who would be good candidates for this programme. The pharmacist can then refer the patient to the gP with a view to triggering referral to DESMonD.
‘To date, patient uptake has been a little disappointing, with many patients simply not showing up to the sessions, and subsequently leaving them undersubscribed. This may be the result of patients not fully understanding what DESMonD entails and so, again, it is vital that we, as pharmacists, encourage them to do so and explain what the programme entails. Ideally, I would like to see DESMonD developed into an action point for MUrs, during which pharmacists can to motivate patients to embrace this model of self care which, undoubtedly, will mean that they are less likely to suffer implications.’
36 - PhArMACy In foCUS
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