Improving management of diabetes in residential and nursing homes

BMJ 1998;317:148 ( 11 July )

Letters

Improving management of diabetes in residential and nursing homes

"Home clinic" facilitates communication with carers

British Diabetic Association publishes guidance

"Home clinic" facilitates communication with carers

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ Tattersall and Page highlighted the problem of providing diabetes care for patients in residential and nursing homes.¹In Hull we have attempted to tackle the growing problem of unstructureddiabetes care in these establishments with the development ofour "home clinic service." ² This service started in 1991 toprovide structured diabetes care in the community by secondarycare staff.

We had identified a small but increasing number of patients who attended the hospital based clinic but gained little fromthe consultation. A high proportion of this group lived in nursingor residential homes. They commonly required hospital transport,which prolonged the hospital visit, and usually had a relativeor a professional carer providing day to day diabetes care andsupport. However, the carers rarely accompanied the patient onthe hospital visit. Accurate information was often unavailableto assist the consultation, and the only reliable method of relayingchanges made . . . [Full text of this article]