SIGN Guideline on Management of Diabetes
The SIGN guideline on Management of Diabetes (SIGN 116) will be published at the end of March.
This guideline is a selective update of SIGN 55, which was published in 2001, and provides updated information across a range of areas relevant to the care of people with diabetes. You can access the guideline here.
Diabetes Education Network Scotland (DENS) meeting report
The Scottish Diabetes group supported a DENS meeting at the Beardmore Conference centre on the 3rd of June 2009. A total of 81 delegates, steering group members and speakers attended the event representing a wide range of health care professionals from primary care, secondary care and paediatric services as well as service users and managers.
Feedback from the day was very positive and a number of ideas for future meetings were generated.
During the day delegates were asked to consider the questions in the ‘Better Diabetes Care’ consultation document addressing structured education. It was agreed that a joint document of participant’s response to these questions would be drawn up on behalf of those attending and submitted by the DENS steering group.
Presentation slides from the day are available on the Education for Patients page.
DVD ‘Type 2 diabetes – the non nonsense guide’ available to all libraries in Scotland.
The Scottish Diabetes Group sponsored DVD ‘Type 2 diabetes – the non nonsense guide’ has been made available to all libraries in Scotland.
Management of Diabetes
SIGN 55 is undergoing a selective review of its contents. A Steering Group has been established and a series of 8 subgroups comprising health professionals, patients and carers have been charged with reviewing new evidence and updating the guidelines in light of this. Recommendations from SIGN 55 which are still current and valid will not be reviewed. Publication will be due in March 2010.
Needs assessment for Type 2 diabetes
The Scottish Public Health Network is undertaking a needs assessment for Type 2 diabetes in Scotland. This will update the last needs assessment, undertaken in 1999, and has been requested by the Scottish Diabetes Group because of the increase in prevalence of Type 2 diabetes, better diabetes data capture and the ongoing debate about population screening for Type 2 diabetes. The project is being lead by Professor Norman Waugh from the University of Aberdeen and is due to report in April 2009
National initiative to rationalise purchase of blood glucose strips
There is a national initiative underway to rationalise the purchase of blood glucose strips for NHS Scotland. Patients, carers, nurses, biochemists and others are all involved in assessing the current range of blood glucose strips with a view to drawing up specifications that will suit hospital, community and individual patient use. The process is also beginning to look at insulin pumps and consumables.