The Specialist Diabetes Team at Ipswich Hospital offer a range of clinics covering renal disease, insulin dose adjustment, pre-conceptual, young people with diabetes, insulin pumps, complex Type 2 and others.
In particular, they deliver group education courses for people with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes:
DAFNE is a 5-day course for people with Type 1 diabetes, which stands for Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating.
The DAFNE training programme is designed to make it possible for people with Type 1 Diabetes to have a greater choice with food and aims to enable you to eat largely as you want, while still keeping your blood glucose levels under control.
DAFNE aims to provide you with the skills necessary to estimate the amount of carbohydrate in each meal and to inject the right dose of insulin.
DESMOND stands for Diabetes Education and Self Management for Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed.
Once you have a diagnosis, you will be referred to the service via your GP or Practice Nurse.
Locally, the Newly Diagnosed module of the DESMOND course is available at sites across east Suffolk including Ipswich Hospital, Stratford St Andrew, Felixstowe and Stowmarket, where DESMOND is currently offered as a 1 Day course. The sessions are small groups and designed to be informal, providing a personal experience for patients.
For more information about DAFNE visit: www.dafne.uk.com
For more information about DESMOND visit: www.desmond-project.org.uk