Burpee challenge to raise awareness of young adult diabetes service

Medical Matters with Charlie McGrath, diabetes specialist dietitian at Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, who talks about her new service supporting local young adults diagnosed with diabetes, and how they are raising awareness during March:

More than 13,000 people in south Devon have been diagnosed with diabetes, and cases are rising both locally and across the UK.

Diabetes UK predicts that 5.5 million of us will have diabetes by 2030.

Diabetes is a life-long condition that causes blood sugar levels to become too high. There are two main types of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune condition whereby the body can’t make a hormone called insulin, attacking and destroying cells in the pancreas that normally make insulin.

People with type 1 diabetes need to take insulin every day to keep their blood sugar levels under control. It can take time to get used to this, but they can still do all the things they enjoy doing with the right care and advice.

With type 2 diabetes, the insulin made by the pancreas doesn’t work effectively or sometimes, your pancreas can’t make enough insulin, causing blood sugar levels to rise.

Having type 2 diabetes without treatment means that high blood sugar levels can cause long-term complications to parts of the body such as eyes, heart and feet. With the right treatment and care, you can live well reduce this risk.

There are around 225 young adults currently under our care living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes in Torbay and South Devon.

There are also numerous others who have disengaged from our services and have little, or no, ongoing support.

In recognition of the scale of the growing number of cases and support that’s required, our diabetes team submitted a business case to NHS England, which successfully secured funding for a new young adult diabetes service.

Our aim has been to establish and deliver a high-quality transition service that meets the needs of our young adults aged 18 to 26 years old inclusive.

Having worked closely with young adults with diabetes over the past few years, I’ve recognised that the transition from paediatric to adult care is a vulnerable time.

The project goals have been driven by my passion to ensure all young people receive a high quality, joined up service throughout their journey from a child-centred to an adult-orientated diabetes service.

I am also a big supporter of involving our young people in the design and delivery of the healthcare services they use. We want to encourage our young adults to be actively involved in their own care and treatment.

Successful self-management requires knowledge about the condition, how it needs to be treated and what needs to be done.

With this in mind, we have set up patient participation groups and improvement innovators, allowing them to help co-design the diabetes service that they would like to receive.

We offer out-of-hours clinic appointments with our diabetes nurse and dietitians, as well as using digital technologies such as the DigiBete and CONNECTPlus apps to reach out in-between appointments and keep them updated with what our service offers.

Our expanding team consists of diabetes consultants, a diabetes practitioner, diabetes nurses, specialist dietitians, a young adult psychologist and our wonderfully energetic diabetes youth support worker, who has persuaded our team and the people we care for to take part in the March burpee challenge.

The challenge is a fun way of raising awareness of the young adult diabetes service and the importance of keeping active and raising money for Diabetes UK.

If you are concerned about diabetes, or believe you may be experiencing some of the common symptoms, speak to your GP who will be able to assess and take you through the next steps.