Diabetes Structured education programmes

Structured Education 

People with diabetes have a demanding condition to manage, yet on average they see a healthcare professional for an hour a year only. One hour of support out of a total of 8,766 to help them manage a condition which, if neglected, could lead to blindness, a lost limb or an increased risk of a stroke or heart attack. That’s 525,900 minutes that a person is left alone to manage their condition.

However, only 14% of healthcare professionals offer structured diabetes education support,  and so much ignorance still exists around diabetes. More than 5 million people now have diabetes in the UK following a hike in diagnoses in the last ten years. Diabetes care needs to improve, and diabetes structured education is the answer. 

Structured education programmes can help adults with type 2 diabetes to improve their knowledge and skills and increase patient activation to self-manage effectively. Structured education should also be offered to family members and carers of adults with type 2 diabetes, if appropriate. Structured education programmes should be offered in a timely manner following diagnosis, recognising that adults may be more open to change at this time, and key messages reinforced periodically.

Structured education programme (NICE's guideline on type 2 diabetes in adults)

Adults with type 2 diabetes should be offered group education programmes as the preferred option. Any structured education programme for adults with type 2 diabetes should: be evidence-based and suit the needs of the person have specific aims and learning objectives, and should support the person and their family members and carers to develop attitudes, beliefs, knowledge and skills to self-manage diabetes have a structured curriculum that is theory-driven, evidence-based and resource-effective, has supporting materials and is written down be quality assured and reviewed by trained, competent, independent assessors who measure it against criteria that ensure consistency have outcomes that are audited regularly meet the cultural, linguistic, cognitive and literacy needs of people in the local area be delivered by trained educators who: understand educational theory appropriate to the age and needs of the person are trained and competent to deliver the principles and content of the programme.

The main programme which offers all this is the Desmond programme ( www.desmond.nhs.uk) available as a face to face programme or via MyDESMOND