Health Minister meets diabetes patients and professionals as part of Diabetes Awareness Week

The Minister for Health and Social Services paid a visit to Riverside Health Centre this week to find out how type 2 diabetes patients in Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan are benefiting from education and prevention programmes. 

To coincide with Diabetes Awareness Week, which runs from June 12-18, Eluned Morgan and Deputy Minister for Mental Health Lynne Neagle met the health board’s diabetes professionals and spoke to people who have seen their lives transformed by community services.

Around 190,000 people in Wales have type 2 diabetes which is more common in those who are overweight or obese, are over 40, or of Asian, African-Caribbean or black African origin. If left untreated, the condition can lead to a range of complications including eye and foot problems, heart attacks, strokes and kidney damage. 

Typical symptoms of type 2 include needing to urinate a lot, feeling really thirsty, feeling more tired than usual and losing weight unexpectedly. However, type 2 patients can go into ‘remission’ when their blood sugar levels have returned to normal through diet, lifestyle changes and treatment.

At Riverside Health Centre on Monday, June 12, the two Welsh Government ministers were shown the range of different NHS services along the type 2 ‘patient journey’, including the work of community dietitians, the All Wales Diabetes Prevention Programme, culturally-specific diabetes sessions, the six-week X-Pert self-management course and remission work.

Melanie Gray, the All Wales Diabetes Prevention Programme Lead for Cardiff and Vale, works with support workers across the region to deliver 30-minute interventions to people who have been identified as being at ‘high risk’ of developing type 2 diabetes. The team then encourages these people to make nutrition and lifestyle changes to bring their blood sugars down.

“With prevention being a hugely beneficial thing, we want to give people the tools to manage their blood sugars, change their lifestyles and stop them from being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the first place,” she said.

“In Cardiff we’re a wonderfully diverse community, so we also need to support people with culturally specific advice and nutrition, and we offer translation services and resources to give people the confidence to make the right changes to their lives.

“Type 2 diabetes is one of the greatest health issues we’re facing in Wales, particularly as more people are becoming overweight or obese. But if someone’s diabetes is being managed well, it reduces the burden on both their physical and mental health and allows them to lead a normal life.”

One patient who has greatly benefited from type 2 diabetes services is Kathryn Lock, from Pentwyn, Cardiff, who was diagnosed with the condition around 20 years ago. She was given tablets and insulin to bring her blood sugars down and was also under gastroenterology for serious digestive problems.

“I was becoming more and more unwell and it got to the point where I didn’t want to eat,” she recalled. “I remember crying on the bedroom floor saying I can’t go on like this.”

After a spell on the X-Pert self-management course, she was put on the remission course and was given a diet of specialist milkshakes for breakfast, lunch, dinner and just before bed. The move changed her life dramatically.

“If anyone take this option I’d recommend giving yourself two weeks to get over the initial hurdle,” she explained. “You feel like you’re getting everything you need [from the milkshakes]. There are both sweet and savoury options. 

“Before the milkshakes I was under a lot of mental health medication, on beta blockers for high blood pressure, mood stabilisers, I was injecting insulin five times a day and had another injection for my weight loss. But since starting this programme around 18 months ago I have come off all my insulin, all the mental health medication, all the beta blockers.

“I feel healthier, I feel motivated, I now have a life."

Kathryn praised Catherine Washbrook, the All Wales Nutrition and Dietetic Lead for Diabetes and Diabetes Prevention, for tailoring the remission programme to suit her needs. “It’s not just about giving me the four milkshakes, she’s with you every step of the way asking how my health has been, how I’m coping. Her emotional support has been brilliant.” 

The Health Minister’s visit to Riverside Health Centre coincided with a new Welsh Government quality statement which sets out the key service priorities and national expectations for the development of better diabetes care. 

It places an emphasis on good supportive care: helping people to learn how to manage their condition well by taking part in educational programmes, having routine support from healthcare services, and improving access to diabetes technology that can help people manage the condition.

Eluned Morgan said: “The quality statement sets out how the NHS will diagnose and help people to manage their diabetes. It sets out the national priorities for service development and has a specific focus on prevention of type 2 diabetes and more broadly the prevention of the serious complications that can come with diabetes.

“Diabetes also has a significant impact on our NHS. We are investing in programmes that support people to reach a healthy weight – which is the best prevention against diabetes 2. However, it is clear that we must do more to prevent cases of type 2 diabetes, which make up about 90% of new cases.

“We need to make big systemic changes to create environments which encourage people to be more active. In a similar way, we need to ensure that everyone in Wales is able to access affordable heathy food. These changes reach beyond the NHS and need everyone in our society to do their part including helping to take the pressure off NHS services.”

For more information on diabetes services in Cardiff and Vale University Health Board please go here or go to the Keeping Me Well website here.