Clinic targets young diabetes sufferers
Reporter: MARINA BERRY
Date published: 16 March 2009
CLINIC invite . . . Diabetes specialist nurse Linda Adams and Dr Deepak Bhatnagar, consultant in diabetes and metabolism
A NEW drop-in service has been launched in Oldham in a bid to prevent young people with diabetes developing complications in later life.
The clinic, for the under 25s, is based at the Royal Oldham Hospital, and is aimed at young people with busy lives who are often unable to attend on a regular basis.
It opens in the evenings to accommodate work, college or university commitments.
Dr Deepak Bhatnagar, consultant in diabetes and metabolism, hopes that by encouraging regular contact with experts at the clinic, patients will be able to prevent diabetes complications in the future.
He said: “Diabetes can interfere with people’s lives and their relationships, and young people in particular may not cope very well.
“The result is that often they end up not looking after themselves.
“However, in our clinic we can offer them the right support and care to help them adjust to diabetes.”
He added: “Each person with diabetes has different needs and in the young persons’ clinic we can discuss how to improve diabetes control and minimise the impact diabetes has on their lives.”
He promised there would be no pressure for regular attendance, adding: “We are happy simply for them to come in for a few minutes to say hello.
“We just don’t want them to lose touch with healthcare professionals. It is well known that those who do not attend appear to get more diabetes related problems in later life.”
Linda Adams, a diabetes specialist nurse, added: “A person may have had diabetes as a child and had the same physician for several years, then suddenly they are seen as adults and forced to see another doctor, which can be a bit traumatic.
“We meet people in the children’s clinic so it is not too much of a shock when they come to the adult clinic.”
Contact with some patients is lost during the transfer from children’s to adult clinics, and the only time they are seen is when they go into hospital with complications.
The clinic, open to everyone under 25, is held on the first Tuesday of each month, from 4 to 7pm in the hospital’s diabetes centre.
