Diabetes Federation launch 2008 Annual Report
The 2008 Annual Report of the Diabetes Federation of Ireland was launched in April 2009. In years to come, 2008 will be remembered as the year the Government of the day finally made diabetes a key priority for service development.
2008 also saw a huge level of activity undertaken by the Federation with many people with diabetes, their families and indeed the wider community benefiting from the many services available
Key Activities/Outcomes
Health Service Development
In November 2008, the HSE’s Diabetes Expert Advisory Group (EAGD), in conjunction with the Federation, launched its First Report setting out its vision for future diabetes services. The main element of this report was the development of integrated care between primary and secondary care for people with Type 2 diabetes. The proposed integrated care model proposes a programme of patient support geared at empowering the person with diabetes to self manage his/her condition.
Patient Support Services
The Diabetes Lo-call Helpline received 6,145 calls in the year and its website saw 61,109 visitors spending on average 5.9 minutes in the site.
Through its local volunteer support groups, the Federation held 27 public education meetings reaching a combined total audience of 2,863 people and by promoting these meetings through local media brought diabetes to the forefront of over 1.3m people nationwide.
The Health Awareness Exhibition in November 2008 had 2,400 attendees on the day. There were a range of other media opportunities, such as a national diabetes symptoms and risk factors awareness advert, reaching a further 1 million listeners.
Local Support Groups also held many events for families of children with diabetes plus social and educational events for parents of children with diabetes and the children themselves. The Cork branch ran a “Teens with Diabetes Time to Talk” initiative throughout the year.
The Federation, in conjunction with the HSE, also launched a self-care guide for diabetes in 6 different languages, addressing the changing demographics of the existing population, and acted as a useful resource for medical and general media enquiries throughout the year.
Through its CODE programme the Diabetes Federation of Ireland continue to support and educate patients. In 2008, the Federation’s Regional Development Officer’s ran 44 CODET2 programmes nationwide providing structured diabetes education to 559 people and 5 CODE T1 programmes attended by 91 parents of children with type 1 diabetes. Duration of patients having type 2 diabetes ranged from newly diagnosed to 38 years with the majority of people having diabetes about 6 years.
Evaluation of the programme showed that
• 26% more participants felt happier in the way they manage their condition after the programme;
• 98% of participants felt they knew what they needed to do to manage their condition after the programme, compared to 87% before;
• HbA1c levels reduced from an average of 7.5% (pre-attendance) to 7.1% (post attendance), showing that glycaemic control improved;
• Average weight loss among participants reduced by 1.2kgs with a corresponding reduction in Body Mass Index (BMI) showing an improvement in changing lifestyle behaviours among the group.
However, a number of concerning issues raised by participants showed that
• 54% of participants find managing their condition stressful;
• 57% of participants reported sometimes feeling “bad” about their condition but only 42% of these felt they were able to take positive action to handle their stress;
• 60% reported experiencing barriers to achieving their diabetes goals;
• 68% of participants also had another medically diagnosed illness besides Type 2 diabetes with a heart related complication being the most prevalent other illness reported by more than a third of this group;
• Women were less healthy than men with higher BMI, poorer control and higher “bad” cholesterol levels.
The CODE programme for parents of children with Type 1 diabetes was also piloted during 2008, 5 programmes, with a total of 91 parents attending, were held covering the psycho-social impact of diabetes on the child and the family and food choices for all children in the family. Evaluation of this programme was extremely positive with an outcome being the expressed desire to be able to meet as a group on a regular basis for peer support. The Diabetes Federation of Ireland is facilitating this request for all groups.
Health Promotion
As part of its Health Promotion initiative, the Federation also screened a total of 3,088 members of the public for diabetes, referring 171 (5.5%) for further testing.
Two healthcare professional conferences were also held by the Federation with over 200 delegates attending. These conferences update delegates on diabetes medical developments. More than fifty presentations to a range of community groups reaching 2,530 people were also made in the year.
Research
The Federation continued to provide direct funding for Irish based research with the Galway Diabetic Foot project receiving 3 year funding of €217,000 from the Health Research Board and the Federation.
Finances
In terms of turnover, the Federation had its best ever year with funds being used effectively to support the ever increasing diabetes community. The value of the many initiatives can be measured in terms of the number of people with diabetes who were supported by the Federation, the number of people detected early and the increased awareness of diabetes among the wider community. Income for the year ending 30 June 2008 was €1,628,533 and expenditure was €1,550,429
In late 2008, the Diabetes Federation of Ireland has seen a decrease in its income year on year, especially in some of its annual fundraising initiatives. In the current economic climate the Federation is anticipating a significant decrease in its income for 2009.
The Federation fully appreciates the efforts of the many volunteer branches nationwide and the difficulties faced in raising funds and thanks all its volunteers, members and staff for their continuing support and efforts in supporting the diabetes community in Ireland.
Download Annual Report here
APP KOL/AC 24-04-2009