Real shot in the arm for diabetes

WORLD Diabetes Day is being celebrated today after the 2,815th person accessed the new Oldham Diabetes Service since its launch in April.

Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust and its partners are promoting the international day for diabetes, which aims to increase awareness of the condition.

The new service, hosted at Glodwick Primary Care Centre, sees the trust working with clinicians from Oldham Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust.

Previously, patients with diabetes in Oldham followed different and sometimes confusing care pathways, being referred to the community diabetes service or directly into The Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust.

This often resulted in regular, repeated and potentially avoidable hospital appointments.

However, the new service means patients are able to receive more complex care in a community setting, targeting the right kind of treatment to the areas of highest need.

Linda Adams, lead nurse diabetes and service lead, said: “Each year World Diabetes Day is celebrated on November 14, which marks the birthday of the man who discovered insulin in 1922, Frederick Banting.

“The day is internationally recognised and the theme this year is education and prevention.

“As a service we constantly strive to improve the education around diabetes to our patients and so we felt it was particularly apt to commemorate the day with our patients in Oldham.”
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