What is Structured Education and why is it important?
On average a person living with diabetes spend three hours a year with their doctor, nurse or consultant. For the other 8,757 hours, they have to manage their condition by themselves.
Managing diabetes day-to-day can be difficult. Diabetes education courses, often known as structured education, help people to obtain the knowledge and skills to manage their condition, to live well, and to avoid complications.
Whether you are newly diagnosed, or have been living with diabetes for awhile, attending a course can really help with understanding how diabetes affects the body and to learn individual self-management techniques which helps you to incorporate diabetes you’re your normal life, instead of living your life around your diabetes.
Did you know there are free and easily accessible education courses being provided locally?
The Specialist Diabetes team at the Trust delivers the DAFNE education course for people with Type 1 diabetes, and the HARRIET course for people with Type 2 Diabetes.
What is DAFNE?
DAFNE stands for Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating, and is a Nationally Accredited Gold Standard education programme for people with Type 1 diabetes. The course is 37 hours of learning, split into five full days.
DAFNE has a solid evidence base for improving outcomes and was developed over 25 years of rigorous research. The course is recommended as an essential part of routine Type 1 care, and teaches participants the skills required to live well with diabetes and to incorporate diabetes into normal life, including topics such as lifestyle choices, food choices, exercise and a whole lot more. By the end of the course all participants will be able to calculate the right insulin dose for each meal, meaning unrestricted food choices and well controlled blood glucose levels. A specially tailored DAFNE course is available for those with an insulin pump.
The courses are facilitated in a friendly small group setting, where participants spend time with people living with the same condition, and highly knowledgeable Diabetes Nurses and Dietitians. There is also the opportunity to continue to experience the benefits of providing and receiving peer support, via the DAFNE graduates network and online forum. Participants are also invited to a follow up DAFNE session, where they can consolidate their learning, share their experiences after the course, and have a further opportunity to ask questions.
Feedback from DAFNE graduates are always overwhelmingly positive, with many participants finishing the course with increased confidence and the feeling that the course has made a big impact on their lives.
“My bottom line in life is to function and DAFNE gives me that ability. For me, it is not a diabetic treatment initiative, it is my life. It informs my hourly, daily, weekly, monthly, yearly decisions; continually improving my health and my contribution to life.”
What is HARRIET?
HARRIET stands for HARRogate Initiative providing Education on Type 2 diabetes, and is a locally designed structured education programme for people with Type 2 diabetes. The course is evidence based to improve outcomes, and is updated regularly to keep it up to date with the latest clinical guidance and to keep it dynamic. The course is 2.5 hours of learning and is split over 2 days.
The course covers topics such as food and lifestyle choices, and equips participants with the skills and knowledge to manage their diabetes and incorporate their condition into normal life. The courses are facilitated in a group setting, where participants have the support of people living with the same condition, and a team of highly knowledgeable Diabetes Nurses, Dietitians, and Podiatrists.
Referral criteria:
- Your GP practice is within the Harrogate and Rural District CCG postcode
- You have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes within the last 6 months
- Written referrals accepted within 6 months of diagnosis from your GP, Practice Nurse or Healthcare Team
Improvement Progress
The aim of the Structured Education Improvement Programme is to make Structured Education courses easily accessible and to increase the level of uptake. In order to achieve this, we are working hard on a number of different areas:
- Reviewing the referral progress to make it easier and more streamlined
- Setting up a central point of contact for patients, carers, and primary care
- Opportunity to attend a course even if someone has previously declined, we understand that the right time to attend a course is at a different point on everyone’s journey.
- Promotion to raise awareness of the benefits Structured Education
- Providing better information on the courses offered
- Gathering feedback on what we can do better – we welcome any feedback so please get in touch if there’s something we can do better
Get in touch
If you are interested in either the DAFNE or HARRIET course and would like more information, or if you have attended a course already and would like to provide us with your feedback, please contact the Structured Education Programme Co-Ordinator, on 01423 554602 and leave a message.