Archived news items
posted 07/12/2020
Sponsorship from Owen Mumford
We are delighted to announce that the our local Regional Account Executive for East Anglia from Owen Mumford (Hadley Wilson) has kindly offered to sponsor our next 'Insulin Awareness/Update & Injection Technique' webinar workshop.
As a result this has enabled a reduction in the individual access price. The choice of educator, topic and content is entirely independent (of the sponsor) and designed solely with the requirements of social care providers & NHS healthcare professionals in mind. Please visit our virtual workshops page to find out more about the content and cost of this workshop taking place on 27 January 2021.
09/11/2020
Diabetes Professional Care conference: 11-13 November 2020
An annual ‘free to attend’ event, for all professionals involved in diabetes care.
This year DPC will take place using an online event platform – allowing interaction between attendees, speakers, sponsors etc.
We are very excited to be taking part in this highly regarded event for the first time! Gemma (who runs our 'Hands on Feet' workshops) is delivering a session on 'Diabetic Foot Screening & Footcare - update and top tips' on Wednesday morning. Then on Thursday afternoon Lynne (founder and Service Lead) is part of a panel discussing 'Key ways to improve outcomes for older adults living with diabetes'.
It is fantastic that the organisers of this valuable conference have made use of amazing technology that exists today, to ensure that people in all the varied roles and at different levels still get to access the diabetes education and networking that DPC offers.
To find out more or to register to attend, visit the DPC website.
#DPC2020Virtual
posted 08/11/2020
World Diabetes Day - 14 November 2020
Each year World Diabetes Day takes place on 14 November-the birthday of the man who co-discovered insulin, Frederick Banting. Banting discovered insulin in 1922, alongside Charles Best.
WDD is marked all around the world in many different ways (conferences, meetings, lectures, campaigns and media programmes etc.) in order to raise awareness of diabetes.
This year the UK's leading diabetes charity, Diabetes UK, is running a fun initiative to get people talking, sharing and feeling supported...by encouraging people to paint their nails blue (the colour associated with WDD)!
Find out more about WDD how to get involved on the Diabetes UK website.
#AllTogether
#NailingDiabetes
#diabetes
01/10/2020
Collaboration with Louella Belle
We are delighted to announce that we are collaborating with a leading UK distributor of beauty products to deliver diabetic foot related training though their Training Academy! Read more...
posted 20/08/2020
More virtual workshops scheduled!
Following the success of our first 'virtual workshop' session on 13 August, we will be scheduling some more dates for the Autumn for 'diabetic foot awareness for beauty and wellness therapists'. It was great to receive positive feedback such as "Brilliant course - thank you" and "I have a lot clearer understanding and know visually what to look for, and what to ask more about in a questionnaire. The resources sound great, looking forward to receiving those".
Dates have now also been scheduled for the following training:
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Insulin Awareness/Update & Injection Technique workshop - for nurses working for care providers.
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Ankle Brachial Pressure Index (ABPI) Assessment
More information can be found here.
posted 09/08/2020
New workshops
Our 'silver lining' during the coronavirus outbreak is that we have had the time to think about how we can improve the part we play in trying to reduce the incidence of diabetic foot disease. This has resulted in us developing new workshops and expanding our 'hands on feet' portfolio. Change can often bring about new opportunities...for us, these have been in the format of additional workshops and reaching new learners virtually (in order to keep everyone safe)!
Our first virtual new workshop takes place on 13 August 2020:
'diabetic foot awareness workshop for beauty and wellness therapists' - 10am - 12.40pm, £25pp
Improving knowledge and confidence may result in helping someone to avoid a diabetic foot ulcer or even amputation (both costly in monetary and quality of life terms)! A summary of the content of the workshop can be found on our 'hands on feet' training page.
Places can be booked via Eventbrite or call us on 01799 584178.
posted 08/08/2020
Virtual workshops from DUET diabetes!
Due to COVID-19, our face to face workshops have been put on hold for the foreseeable future and subsequently we have decided to dip our toe into the virtual arena. We want to ensure that our customers (present and future) have access to evidence-based, clinically relevant diabetes training appropriate to their role / workplace; to ultimately help the people they look after living with diabetes to stay well. At the same time we want to keep our learners and their families, residents, clients and patients safe and well!
Find out more about our virtual workshops here.
posted 07/08/2020
On demand webinar!
If you missed the webinar yesterday (Care Home Diabetes – A Continuing Health and Social Care Challenge), a recording has been made available by ABCD to watch at your convenience.
The ABCD also has a wealth of COVID-19 resources.
posted 03/08/2020
Dates for your diary!
Hosted by the Association of British Diabetologists (ABCD)...
Webinar: Care Home Diabetes – A Continuing Health and Social Care Challenge, 6 August 2020, 4:45pm - 5:45pm. The talk is to be presented by Professor Alan Sinclair. Visit ABCD website for more information and to book.
The Care Summer Seriies hosted by The Care SHow and Health+Care - a FREE two-day virtual event for all care professionals on the 10th and 11th August 2020. More information available here.
posted 02/07/2020
Virtual workshops coming soon!
We are in the process of planning some diabetes virtual training sessions via Zoom.
We want to ensure that our customers (present and future) have access to evidence-based, clinically relevant diabetes training appropriate to their role / workplace. The ultimate aim being to make a positive difference to people living with diabetes and their quality of life.
We invite you to read more about our plans here.
posted 12/05/2020 (updated 22 May 2020 - ISW new dates)
National Diabetes/Foot Related Campaigns - new and re-arranged dates for your diary!
DIABETES AWARENESS WEEK 8 - 14 June 2020 (plans may change due to the coronavirus outbreak)
Visit the Diabetes UK website to learn more about their vital fund raising and awareness campaign, and how you can potentially get involved.
INSULIN SAFETY WEEK (ISW) 6-12 July 2020
We would encourage health and care providers to register and take part to raise awareness amongst colleagues, families and patients/residents/service users. Like hospitals and GP practices, care providers can run events and activities to improve understanding and reduce insulin errors. #THINKINSULIN
Find out more here
FOOT HEALTH FORTNIGHT - awaiting confirmation of new dates (expected to take place end Sept/Oct 2020)
This campaign focuses on foot health and informing people about how important it is for them to check their feet regularly and to take care of their feet.
posted 01/04/2020, plus updates!
Coronavirus (COVID-19) and diabetes
We have produced a summary of some resources and links to organisations providing up to date information for people living with diabetes as well as healthcare professionals. We will endeavour to update the page when additional information is forthcoming. Go to page
Updated:
28 April 2020 - 'Covid-19 and diabetes: Interim Care Home Guidance 27 April 2020'
2 May 2020 - additional information regarding 'sick day rules' (shared by Dr Partha Kar)
12 May 2020 - updated information regarding the 'stay at home / stay alert & safe' guidance
22 May 2020 - updated information regarding latest data (for England) regarding diabetes and Covid-19
19 June 2020 - updated to reflect government advice regarding wearing face coverings on public transport
posted 23/03/2020
COVID-19 outbreak
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak all our workshops have been postponed until further notice. As soon as it is practicable to do so, we will re-schedule all open workshops that have been affected and will contact all organisations which had booked places to inform them of the new details. For organisations which had booked in house workshops, we will be in touch to discuss suitable new dates, once 'social distancing' restrictions have been lifted.
We wish you all the best during this extraordinary and tricky time.
posted 05/02/2020
National Nutrition and Hydration Week 2020
We would like to highlight a national campaign next month - 'Nutrition and Hydration Week' 16 - 22 March 2020. More information and resources can be found on the nutritionandhydration website where you can read more about how to get involved and about the 'global tea party' taking place on Wednesday 18 March.
We were asked to run some ‘diabetes & healthy eating’ training last year in Norfolk as an open workshop which was very well attended. As a result, as well as arranging additional sessions in Norfolk, we are now running this training in Suffolk. To coincide with 'Nutrition and Hydration Week', we have scheduled a 'diabetes & healthy eating' open workshop to take place in Beccles on 20 March 2020. Details of open workshop venues can be found here.
A wide range of people have attended the sessions we have already run: this workshop is useful for anyone caring for someone with diabetes or helping them manage their diabetes; such as carers, healthcare assistants and practice nurses. Chefs/cooks and kitchen staff working for care providers have also found the session particularly useful - giving them a better insight to diabetes, thus enabling them to plan and prepare appropriate menus.
To find out more about the content of these sessions please visit our our workshops page.
posted 08/01/2020
National Diabetes Campaigns - dates for your diary!
Two successful and valuable annual initiatives organised by Orange Juice Communications:
INSULIN SAFETY WEEK (ISW) 18 - 24 May 2020
HYPO AWARENESS WEEK (HAW) 5 - 11 October 2020
We would encourage health and care providers involved with looking after people with diabetes to register and take part to raise awareness amongst colleagues, families and patients/residents/service users. The organisers provide lots of useful tips and support materials (online and printed), register early to ensure you receive these to help you with your communications and activities.
To register email emily.mayhew@ojpr.co.uk
The team DUET diabetes, as in previous years, will be getting involved. We are currently planning our activities for ISW...watch this space!
posted 07/01/2020
Happy New Year!
We would like to wish our existing customers, prospective customers and visitors to our website a happy and healthy year filled with joy and positivity!
posted 25/11/2019
New - Diabetes & Healthy Eating open workshops now available!
After a successful open workshop in Dereham during DIABETES WEEK 2019, we will be offering this training as an open workshop at other venues from January 2020. To find out more about the content of this workshop please visit our workshops page.
Currently a venue in Dereham has been arranged (for 24 January 2020) - additional locations and dates are being finalised for Suffolk and Norfolk.
posted 13/10/2019
DUET diabetes team is expanding!
We are pleased to announce that two experienced diabetes educators are going to start running our workshops from next week. Karen will be involved with all workshops except the 'diabetes update for registered nurses' and 'diabetic foot screening' workshops. As an experienced registered podiatrist, Gemma will be sharing her skills and knowledge within the 'diabetic foot screening' workshops. Visit our 'about us' page to find out more about Karen and Gemma.
posted 11/10/2019
Hypo Awareness Week 2019: 30 September - 6 October
As in previous years, we have supported the valuable national diabetes campaign that is 'Hypo Awareness Week' once again. To find out what we got up to, read more...
posted 26/06/2019
New open workshop planned
After a successful Diabetes & Healthy Eating open workshop was held in Dereham during DIABETES WEEK earlier this month, we plan to schedule more sessions in other venues later in the year. We invite interested parties to get in touch so that future workshops take place in locations suitable for people looking to attend.
posted 27/01/2019
Dates for your diary 2019
We would like to share some dates for local conferences and national diabetes related awareness campaigns:
Conferences
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Suffolk Care Conference, 21 March 2019 at Wherstead Park. Organised by SAICP (Suffolk Association of Independent Care Providers). More information regarding the programme and how to book visit the SAICP website
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'The changing face of general practice nursing' conference (Midlands and East), 26 March 2019 at The Woodlands Centre, Wyboston, Bedfordshire. Organised by Health Education England and NHS England. For information regarding the programme and how to book click here.
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Care for Norfolk Conference, 22 May 2019 at Norwich City Football Ground. For more information contact Kelsea at info@angliantraining.co.uk
Campaigns
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Insulin Safety Week (ISW) 20 - 26 May 2019. Organised by Orange Juice Communications. 343 sites took part in the inaugural, nationally-organised ISW last year. We would encourage health and care providers to register and take part to raise awareness amongst colleagues, families and patients/residents/clients. Like hospitals and GP practices, care homes can run events and activities to improve understanding and reduce insulin errors. #THINKINSULIN
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Diabetes Awareness week 10 - 16 June 2019. This is an annual UK-wide event set up by the charity Diabetes UK with the week devoted to raising awareness of diabetes and raising money to help fund research into the condition. The theme for this year is yet to be announced.
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Hypo Awareness Week (HAW) 30 Sept - 6 Oct 2019. Organised by Orange Juice Communications. A record breaking 549 sites took part last year, including a number of care homes in the East. More details regarding this year's campaign will be available later in the year however in the meantime you can register your site by emailing Oliver at oliver.jelley@ojpr.co.uk #HypoAwarenessWeek
posted 26/01/2019
Happy New Year!
The end of last year ended in a flurry of activities - workshops, conferences and our second 'Epilepsy and Diabetes Snapshot training morning':
World Diabetes Day 14 November 2018 - thank you to the organisers of the "You, Me & Diabetes" event in Great Yarmouth and for inviting us to be involved. Those that attended certainly received a comprehensive overview of the condition, the medications used, advice on taking care of themselves, local services and more.
Snapshot training morning 15 November 2018 - along with Anglian Training we ran our second epilepsy and diabetes event and were delighted that the hall at Blackbourne Hall was full with over 70 people. We would like to thank our guest speakers from 'Epilepsy action' and Lorna Rouse (Open University) who shared details of her research into the quality of diabetes care appointments for people with learning disabilities. Lee and Michael brought to life what it is like to live with diabetes and epilepsy and some of it's complications (long term health problems) by sharing personal experiences. The raffle raised £100 to be split equally between the charities'Diabetes UK' and 'Epilepsy Action'.
posted 29/10/2018
The treatment of hypoglycaemia for adults
Updated guidance for the treatment of hypoglycaemia in the community (trend-UK) and in hospital (JBDS-IP) has been issued this year. Please be aware that Lucozade is no longer recommended.
"100mls of Lucozade was a previous choice for use in treating hypoglycaemia but in 2017 the glucose content was reduced, therefore, a greater volume is required and the benefit/effect is delayed so this is no longer advised"
posted 23/10/2018
Hypo Awareness Week Excellence Award 2018 runner up
We were thrilled to be contacted by the organisers of the 'Hypo awareness week' national annual campaign with the news that DUET diabetes Ltd has received a 'highly commended' award for our endeavours.
There are some amazing events and activities which take place up and down the country during the campaign week and beyond; although we are not a large organisation, we try to do ‘our bit’ to help make a difference!
Click here to read a little about what we did...
A number of organisations helped us to spread the word about this national campaign, such as Norfolk & Suffolk Care Support, Norfolk Independent Care, Care Development East, Suffolk Association of Independent Care Providers,
the Care Homes team at Ipswich and East Suffolk & West Suffolk Clinical Commissioning Groups. Thank you for all your assistance - we wanted to ensure that the local care workforce heard about this great initiative and were inspired to
take part. Hypo Awareness Week 2018 was the best year yet with 542 sites participating nationally!
posted 16/10/2018
Free Snapshot Training Mornings
Further to our news item posted on 25 May 2018, the Norwich event on 17 September saw nearly 80 people attend West Costessey Hall. They had a useful and interesting overview of Epilepsy, types of seizure, living with epilepsy & first aid. We would like to thank our guest speakers from 'Epilepsy action' and 'Opening Doors', as well as Michael and his guide dog Quizzy who shared personal experiences of what it is like to live with diabetes and some of it's complications (long term health problems). We were able to raise £102 in the raffle to be split equally between the charities'Diabetes UK' and 'Epilepsy Action'. We hope to at least match that on 15 November in Elmswell!
15 November 2018: Elmswell, Suffolk
As with the Norfolk event, the morning in Elmswell will be a split of epilepsy and diabetes information. Additional information regarding the programme content will be available within the next few days; once again Michael and Quizzy will be taking part. From the diabetes perspective we will be focusing on hypos, peripheral neuropathy and diabetes with learning disability. In one of the diabetes sessions Lorna Rouse (from The Open University) will be sharing some findings from research into the experience of diabetes care appointments for adults with mild-to-moderate learning disabilities, their supporters and healthcare professionals; with the aim to improve understanding of these interactions.
More details are on the flyer.
Places are limited to 2 per organisation; please contact us to book your place(s) or to find out more information.
posted 14/10/2018
World Diabetes Day 14 November 2018
#WDD2018
Get involved and spread the word...organise an activity? wear blue for the day?
World Diabetes Day is a global campaign which was created in 1991 by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the World Health Organisation and takes place on the 14th November every year. The theme for this year and 2019 is 'The Family and Diabetes', with the aim to:
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Raise awareness of the impact that diabetes has on the family and support network of those affected.
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Promote the role of the family in the management, care, prevention and education of diabetes
It is reported that 80% of cases of Type 2 diabetes are preventable through the adoption of healthier lifestyles.
More information and resources can be found on the campaign's website
What are the team at DUET diabetes planning for 14 November?
We will be attending the "You, Me & Diabetes" event taking place at the King's Centre in Great Yarmouth. This is a free forum providing advice and support about living with diabetes or pre-diabetes. Helen, our Educational and Training Lead, will be running one of the sessions which will include some dietary advice. More details are on the flyer.
posted 03/09/2018
Hypo Awareness Week 24 - 30 September 2018
#HAW2018 #HypoAwarenessWeek
Treating a hypo quickly and effectively can make a massive difference to people with diabetes. Hypo Awareness Week is taking place from September 24 to 30 and we are delighted to be among those taking part. It’s a vital national drive to raise awareness of hypoglycaemia and improve outcomes.
Care providers can register and receive on-line and printed resource packs to assist in running activities/events for their staff, families and residents/service users. Through inclusive, fun and informative activities, care providers can potentially improve awareness; perhaps resulting in the avoidance or reduction of hypos happening, or staff recognising and dealing with a hypo more confidently. Hypo awareness week is always a timely reminder to audit hypo kits!
The campaign is organised by Orange Juice Communications and funded by Sanofi. To find out more and/or to register to take part visit https://hypoawarenessweek.com/
We are running a Diabetes Awareness Training workshop on Monday 24 September to coincide with this campaign. Either give us a call or visit our workshops page for more information.
posted 11/06/2018
Diabetes Week 11-17 June 2018
#talkaboutdiabetes #diabetesweek
Organised by the charity Diabetes UK, this special week is now the annual focal point for the charity’s diabetes awareness, campaigning and fundraising activities. Visit the Diabetes UK website to find out more...
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/get_involved/diabetes-week
posted 25/05/2018
Free Snapshot Training Mornings
We are delighted to be working with another training provider, Anglian Training (based in Norfolk), to offer two free 'snapshot training mornings' each covering epilepsy and diabetes. These are taking place at two locations in the autumn - one in Norwich in September and the other in Elmswell (Suffolk) in November.
These mornings will be useful for anyone working in the adult health and care sectors (and those working with 'post 16 special needs' individuals or groups) - we will providing some basic awareness as well as up to date information regarding some elements of epilepsy and diabetes.
More details are on the flyer.
Places are limited to 2 per organisation; please contact us to book your place(s) or to find out more information.
posted 21 May 2018
National Insulin Safety week
May 14 - 20, 2018
This was the first national campaign to highlight the importance of ensuring that insulin administration is managed safely.
The campaign was organised by Orange Juice Communications and funded by Sanofi.
It focused on the principles of the '6 Rs' and 399 sites predominantly from Primary and Secondary care with some interest from the care sector took part.
To see how DUET diabetes participated in the campaign go to our blog page
This week is Diabetes Week; 11 - 17 June 2017
For information about how DUET diabetes is supporting Diabetes Week please click on the link below:
https://www.careandnursing-magazine.co.uk/care_news
posted 12/06/2017
Warning over Lucozade Sugar reduction!!!
Many people with diabetes rely on Lucozade to treat hypoglycaemia (hypo). However, the sugar content of Lucozade has been halved. The new formula, which will apply to all Lucozade flavours as well as the original, will be implemented from April 2017. This change will affect the amount of Lucozade people need to drink to correct a hypo and as there will be stocks of both old and new Lucozade in the shops for a while, it may lead to under correcting a hypo.
For more information follow the link below:
http://diabetestimes.co.uk/hypo-warning-over-lucozade-sugar-reduction/
posted 12/06/2017
Open Workshops - Diabetes Awareness Training special offer
DUET diabetes is pleased to offer its customers one free place for every 10 places booked on the Diabetes Awareness Training Open Workshops.
Click here For details of dates, venues and prices of the Open Workshops