Diabetes Patient Group
Remit of the group To enable people with diabetes and their carers/families to participate in the planning and development of services, contribute to the Steering Group and be actively involved in raising awareness of diabetes-related issues
Date: Thursday 27th October 2011, 6.30pm
Venue: Conference Room 2, Ronald Miller Suite, Wishaw General Hospital
Attendees: John Rose (Chair), Helen Alexander, Heather McDonald, Elvin Bailey, Cathy Armstrong, Dominic Dale, Linda Finlay, James Fitzpatrick, Tom Crawley, Nina and Alex Lindsay and Pat Reilly
Introduction
John welcomed new member Pat Reilly to the group. John advised that Margaret Graham has had to step down
from the core group due to other commitments but would remain on the communication group list. No:
Item
Action
1.
Apologies
Blanche and Alan Smith, Margaret Graham, Millie and Mathew Sommerville
2.
Previous minute
Previous meeting minute was accepted and amendment added.
Item 4 - Patient Hand Held Summary - "The project outline was circulated prior to the meeting. Sheila asked the group if anyone had used the patient hand held summary and a few members had. Cathy said she had signed on and uses it regularly "
Amendment - Cathy indicated she had mixed up the hand held summary with My Diabetes, My Way web site and hasn’t used hand held summary.
3.
Matters arising
Specialist Staff involvement with diabetics in hospital
Deferred. Helen advised that June Currie, Diabetes Service Manager has confirmed she will attend the next meeting to talk about this. Cathy advised that this topic had been raised recently by Diabetes UK.
Elvin suggested that any issues raised from the group should be notified to Joan James, Associate Director of Nursing. Helen advised that any complaints or issues re diabetes would automatically go via June Currie, Diabetes Service Manager in the first instance.
Suitable Hospital Food
Elvin is a member of Lanarkshire’s Food, Fluid and Nutrition group and advised that the group had submitted a 110 page report to Lanarkshire health board’s management team. He highlighted that two hospitals were under Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contracts that set standard nutritional values for the food served, but he said food also needs to look, smell and taste good, as highlighted in the report. The report would be forwarded to the health board’s Chief Executive and Chairman.
One of the members said he was happy with the food in Monklands which is not under a PFI contract. Dominic highlighted that personal choice affects this - some people complain, some don’t about whether or not they liked the food. Cathy said she was in Monklands (May 2010) and was offered cake/custard which is not suitable for diabetics. She said no fruit/vegetables were offered but some of the others said that this has now changed. Elvin said that there was an indication of what is suitable for diabetics on the menus. John asked if the issue was that there wasn’t a specific diabetic menu? Elvin suggested emailing David Browning, Task and Finish group to raise the issue. Helen asked if any issues with menus still exist. Action: Elvin said he would source copies of current menus. Pat said that in the past a menu for the next day was issued for the patient to choose what they wanted. He asked if this is still being done. If not, could this be implemented again? Dominic suggested asking patients directly
Elvin
Diabetes Patient Group
Remit of the group To enable people with diabetes and their carers/families to participate in the planning and development of services, contribute to the Steering Group and be actively involved in raising awareness of diabetes-related issues
Date: Thursday 25th August 2011, 6.30pm
Venue: Conference Room 2, Ronald Miller Suite, Wishaw General Hospital
Attendees: John Rose (Chair), Helen Alexander, Heather McDonald, Cathy Armstrong, Dominic Dale, Linda Finlay, Blanche and Alan Smith, Tom Crawley, Millie and Matthew Somerville, Nina and Alex Lindsay
Guests Sheila McPherson, CHOICES Project Co-ordinator, Diabetes UK
Allan Kirkwood, Quality and Development Officer, Diabetes UK
Veronica Nevispedro, Volunteer, Lothian No:
Item
Action
1.
Apologies
Margaret Graham, James Fitzpatrick, Elvin Bailey
1a.
Proposed meeting ground rules
John asked if the group could consider a few ground rules to ensure the time was used efficiently. Everyone agreed the following:
Only one person to speak at a time
Stick to the topic under discussion
No private conversations – let everyone hear what you’ve got to say
Raise points via the chair – catch his attention if you wish to speak
Be as brief as possible and try not to involve personal problems
2.
Previous minute
Previous meeting minute was accepted as an accurate record.
3.
Matters arising
Specialist Staff involvement with diabetics in hospital
At the last meeting it was noted that patients being admitted to Monklands Hospital had not seen any diabetes specialist staff and two people in the group said they had not been asked if they had diabetes when they were admitted to hospital. Helen noted that there was currently no means of communicating to specialist staff when someone with diabetes is admitted.
June Currie, Diabetes Service Manager has advised that there are some specialist diabetes nurses in the acute wards but staff are not routinely highlighting diabetic patients to them. No clear answer to this.
Nina suggested that when people are admitted to hospital they could be asked, "Do you have diabetes?" Dominic expressed some concerns about possible repercussions of not being asked. Alex said that Gartnavel Hospital ask the question upon admittance. Helen advised that a pre assessment system is in place but hospital staff would not have routine access to SCI-DC (the diabetes clinical management system) which has details of everyone who has been diagnosed. Tom said if people are admitted with secondary issues staff do not always know they have diabetes. Cathy expressed concern that some people with diabetes are turned away because of high blood sugars when they are due to be admitted and this is wasting hospital/peoples time. Is there some avenue to address this issue prior to hospital admission?
Helen advised that there is a new peri-operative guideline that has been discussed recently. She advised that June Currie, Diabetes Service Manager could give more advice on this and is happy to attend the next meeting to talk about it. Action: Helen to invite June to the next meeting.
Suitable Hospital Food
Elvin is a member of Lanarkshire’s Food, Fluid and Nutrition group and will update at the next meeting.
Helen
Elvin
Diabetes Patient Group
Remit of the group To enable people with diabetes and their carers/families to participate in the planning and development of services, contribute to the Steering Group and be actively involved in raising awareness of diabetes-related issues
Date: 16th June 2011, 18:30 to 20:00hrs
Venue: Bellshill Cultural Centre, Bellshill
Attendees: John Rose (Chair), Helen Alexander, Cathy Armstrong, Elvin Bailey, Dominic Dale, Linda Finlay, Margaret Graham, Blanche and Alan Smith, Millie and Matthew Somerville
No Item Action
1. Apologies
James Fitzpatrick, Nina and Alex Lindsay, Heather McDonald
1a. Proposed
meeting
ground rules
John asked if the group could consider a few ground rules to ensure the time was used efficiently.
Everyone agreed the following:
Only one person to speak at a time
Stick to the topic under discussion
No private conversations – let everyone hear what you’ve got to say
Raise points via the chair – catch his attention if you wish to speak
Be as brief as possible and try not to involve personal problems
2. Previous minute
This was accepted as an accurate record of the meeting.
The group requested that no acronyms be used without explaining what they stood for.
Written information should be in understandable language.
3. Matters arising
Following the previous meeting an email had been sent clarifying who is responsible for different
aspects of diabetes management for Lanarkshire residents from the Northern Corridor and Kilsyth &
the surrounding villages. It was noted that NHS Lanarkshire diabetes specialist nurses and dietitians
are unable to access NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde or NHS Forth Valley medical records and that it
could compromise optimal care if conflicting advice was given in the absence of this information.
However it resulted in people seeing a range of different staff and not always in the most convenient
location.
Cathy noted that when someone was recently admitted to Monklands Hospital they had not seen
any diabetes specialist staff. Two people in the group said they had not been asked if they had
diabetes when they were admitted to hospital. Helen noted that there was currently no means
of communicating to specialist staff when someone with diabetes is admitted. Helen will ask for an
update from June Currie, Diabetes Service Manager on specialist staff involvement with diabetics
admitted to hospital and will try to find out why patients are not asked if they have diabetes
.
One group member noted that when they were admitted recently there was no menu at mealtimes
, the food had not been suitable for them (they had food brought in) and they were offered puddings.
Elvin is a member of Lanarkshire’s Food, Fluid and Nutrition group and will explore this.
At the previous meeting,
Helen had been asked to find out about Diabetes Retinopathy Screening (DRS) attendance rates.
She had contacted the DRS Team Leader who said the service had a 20% failed-to-attend rate.
She felt that some people were put off by the prospect of having eye drops put in, which would mean
they were unable to drive for a time afterwards. In reality only about 1/3 need eye drops and people
under 60 years of age need them less frequently than the over 60s. There was some confusion over the
length of time people had to wait before driving and the group/Helen agreed to find out.
The group asked why they were unable to have eye screening at their local opticians –
Helen replied that only NHS Lanarkshire cameras have a sufficiently high specification
and a link to quality assurance to ensure no eye problems are missed. Linda noted that
Helen, June Elvin All
opticians used less strong eye drops. The group suggested Helen recommend altering the wording
of the DRS letter to say that you may not need eye drops instead of warning that you may need them.
Helen
4. Diabetes Voices
The group agreed to postpone this item until the next meeting to prioritise other items on the agenda.
5. Patient information leaflets
The group had now all sent in feedback on the draft patient information leaflets. June Currie had
incorporated all those received before going on annual leave and will include the rest once she has
returned. June asked Helen to thank the group for this work.
Cathy suggested that the driving and diabetes guideline may need to be reviewed in light of the law change
that if your blood glucose is below 4% you must treat it and wait at least 40 minutes before driving.
John asked if the blood glucose meter guideline would be changed to reflect this increased level of testing to
comply with the requirement for more testing before driving. There was some debate around whether testing
before driving applied to everyone or just people with Type 1 diabetes, insulin or tablets and commercial or
private drivers. The group/Helen will check DVLA guidance for clarification
.
The group felt that testing blood glucose could help people stay on message with their diet.
It was noted that test strip prescriptions are being refused in England due to the cost.
Helen clarified the Lanarkshire guideline was for health care professionals, but advised it clearly
outlined the circumstances in which patients would be expected to benefit from blood glucose testing.
All, Helen
6. Group work plan
Helen noted that the sheet circulated before the meeting of possible work had been extracted from the
Diabetes Managed Clinical Network workplan. If the group decided to take forward any of the aspects
listed that would help the MCN achieve some of its targets.
The group expressed an interest in access to podiatry, particularly around the importance of foot screening.
People also had variable experience of toenail cutting, with some having this done for them and others not.
There was also an interest in reaching people who do not attend the patient group. It was suggested we
should put up a notice when we are meeting to tell people we are here and welcome any enquiries. It would
also be helpful if we met in the same venue each time. Previous diabetes information days had tended to
attract those who were already relatively well-aware of how best to manage their diabetes, and the group
wished to reach those unlikely to attend such events
.
The Diabetes Retinopathy Screening service had suggested that if the group wished to get involved it would
be helpful to raise awareness of the benefits of eye screening and the fact that the majority of people do not
need eye drops. It was agreed that a press release could be prepared for the main population centres that
would be attractive to the local free newspapers. Linda offered to help with this as she works in this line. If
group members from the different areas offered to be photographed and we wrote a few paragraphs about
what happens when you get your eyes screened, that could be released via NHS Lanarkshire’s
communications team and may be picked up by the different papers. Helen will write to the group
and ask for volunteers who can then arrange to meet up with eye screening staff to be photographed.
The article could mention the rate of non-attendance and explain how easy it is to have your eyes checked.
The group also suggested that this might give an opportunity to explain some of the terms used in the results
letters like ‘mild diabetic retinopathy.’ July was felt to be a good time to get something into the local press.
Helen
7. Future venues
The group felt that all future meetings should be in the same place and agreed that the Ronald Miller Education Suite, Wishaw General was fine. Heather will book one of the smaller rooms.
Heather
8. Dates of Next meetings
Thursday 25th August, 18:30 for 19:00 start
Thursday 27th October, 18:30 for 19:00 start
John was asked to chair both meetings
Matt will post group information to the Clydesdale PPF web site
John Matt
You are invited to attend the mext meeting as per the above notice.