New South Ayrshire diabetic support introduced to provide support closer to home

South Ayrshire Health and Social Care Partnership (HSCP) have invested in a new initiative to bring support for type 2 diabetic patients in their local community.

This new initiative looks to take pressure from acute services while providing easier access to support for those starting their diabetic journey.

The ambition is that all patients needing treatment for type 2 diabetes will be able to receive this in their general practice. The HSCP has invested funding for GP's and practice nurses to receive training to initiate insulin in patients with type 2 diabetes in their local GP practice where appropriate. This would allow patients to receive care without waiting for a referral to a hospital setting for this treatment to commence.  

An initial training session took place February which was attended by 28 practice clinicians representing 16 of 18 practices in South Ayrshire. This means that the majority of patients with type 2 diabetes in South who need it will have access to this treatment in practice rather than waiting for a referral to hospital diabetic services.

Linda Semple, Chair of the Integration Joint Board said, "It is hoped that earlier access to treatment and allowing better diabetic control will lead to reduced numbers of diabetic complications like blindness, arterial disease and kidney disease thus improving the outcome in this group of patients and reducing the likelihood of long complex hospital admissions with complications."

"I am delighted to see the enthusiasm of our initial training cohort who are committed to this new programme and are excited to welcome their first patients."

All patients seen through this new route will then be offered referral to the injectable therapies group - a new group started by hospital diabetic services, who will provide four sessions of education to help them learn more about their condition. These sessions will also act as an opportunity to adjust the of dose or type of insulin if required. All of this happens in the locality without need for waiting for hospital consultant clinic.

Dr Philip Hulme, Clinical Director South Ayrshire HSCP said, "Education is crucially important in patients with type 2 diabetes. Starting insulin injections is only part of the journey. Patients must understand what this treatment is doing and what they can do to self-care to ensure the treatment works as effectively as possible for the individual. These new injectable therapy groups will allow you to speak to trained professionals in a local setting to help ensure you are as informed as possible on how to manage your condition."

Further training will be provided to expand this offer to the South Ayrshire community. The impact of this new offer will be monitored and reported on to determine the real impact. If successful, this model will be shared with neighbouring localities with a view to rolling this out to the wider Ayrshire community and beyond.