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Community nursing charity joins the fight against Diabetes
01 Jun 2012
The Queen’s Nursing Institute (QNI) – the national community nursing charity - has an important role to play in combating Diabetes, which affects around 3.7 million people in the UK.
This year the QNI is giving funding and professional development to Craig Cotterill, a Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nurse, and his colleague Debbie McAusland, who are running a project in Walsall, West Midlands.
Craig and Debbie’s project – ‘Managing Type 1 Diabetes through the Transition Years’ – addresses the crucial stage when diabetic children become young adults. Craig explains, ‘Children with a long term condition such as Diabetes receive a great deal of support during childhood. The level of care they receive as they make the transition to adulthood can vary considerably. Unfortunately this means that they can develop complications because of the disease.’
Craig’s team can have a caseload of up to 125 young people at any one time, which presents a considerable challenge. He adds, ‘The support we receive from the QNI will help us give health education to young people to help them through the ‘transition years’ from childhood to adult services. Many young people tend to take risks with their own health, which can lead to serious and preventable complications related to their Diabetes. We are trying to find out the reasons why young people fail to take their medication, for example, so we can address the causes of this and encourage them to manage their health better.’
Anne Pearson, Practice Development Manager at the QNI commented, ‘Community nurses are perfectly placed to offer useful and practical support and advice to people with serious long term health conditions. We find that most people have a unique trust in their nurse, and will listen to the health messages that they give them.’
She added, ‘The QNI welcomes applications for funding from other community nursing teams who want to make a difference to the lives of their patients.’
ENDS
Notes to Editors
Since 1990 the QNI has funded hundreds of projects in the community that improve patient care, often for very vulnerable people. We support innovative projects, led by community nurses, midwives or health visitors, which set up new services, or test new ways of working. We do this by giving grants, as well as a full year of professional development. All nurse project leaders benefit from our unique and highly-rated support programme.
Diabetes affects around 3.7 million people in the UK. Another 7 million are at high risk of developing the disease. It is a very serious condition that has a number of complications, and is life-threatening if not controlled properly. It can affect people at all stages of life.
People can live with Diabetes for many years. As such the disease is something that is usually managed in the home and community, avoiding hospital admissions wherever possible. Community nurses are instrumental in giving people the care they need to ‘live well’ with this condition.
Craig Cotterill is employed by Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and works at Manor Hospital, Pleck Road, Walsall.
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