COVID in the UK

As Western Australia adjusts to life with COVID, we can look to the UK for lessons on how to best help people living with diabetes, writes MYKE BARTLETT

When the UK went into lockdown in March 2020, the country was overrun by the pandemic in a way that West Australians can hardly imagine. Hospitals were overwhelmed and essential services ground to a halt. The need to help people with diabetes manage their journey didn’t go away, however. At Leicester Diabetes Centre (LDC), the team worked hard to provide patients with the information they needed to care for themselves in the middle of a disaster.

Given Diabetes WA’s strong relationship with LDC – we have partnered with them for more than a decade to bring their DESMOND diabetes self-management program to Western Australia – it made sense to ask them what we might expect here as we adjust to living with COVID. Rachel Gardner, the centre’s Project Marketing Manager, says the team’s main priority during the first outbreak was making sure people with diabetes could access information and support, even when face-to-face appointments weren’t possible. “We wanted to make sure that we were supporting anybody that has diabetes,” Rachel says. “We wanted them to know that they could come to our website, that we had videos on there, about starting insulin, about hypos, things to look out for, exercise. Basically, we took a back-to-basics approach. Because people weren't going to be able to go to their doctors, they needed to think a bit more about looking after themselves.” Bernie Stribling, Assistant Director at LDC, says there was a particular awareness that a lot of people would be newly diagnosed with diabetes without being able to access the usual support and services. “What we found is that routine care across GP practice just stopped. People had Dr Google and that was it. Even two and a half years later, some newly diagnosed people still haven't gotten to the appointments. You had a lot of isolated people.” One gesture that had an immediate impact was making the MyDESMOND online workshops available free for three months. “We thought, let's just give them access to a solid piece of information that educates them about self care. It gave patients an opportunity to realise they don’t have to rely on other people and healthcare professionals, because they’ve got the skills.” West Australians are fortunate as Diabetes WA has already made these MyDESMOND workshops available, to ensure education programs continue as face-to-face sessions are postponed. At LDC, they found that moving towards a virtual model meant DESMOND sessions became accessible to people who might previously have struggled or been reluctant to attend. As people in lockdown got used to doing everything virtually, attendance numbers for MyDESMOND went through the roof. “Because we had this huge waiting list, we put everybody online and guess what? It just worked. I think as healthcare professionals, we have this perception that we couldn't possibly go virtual, because we've never done it that way,” Bernie says. “But suddenly the person who's living with diabetes realises they just need the support and that they've got the answers themselves.”

Education became an important tool in helping people deal with the pandemic – and the damaging effects

THROUGH THE HORROR

lockdowns had on people’s mental health, diabetes management and exercise regimes. This education, which was delivered as a series of virtual programs, included information on what a pandemic actually was and how best to protect yourself, with a particular sensitivity towards the city’s ethnically diverse population. Diabetes WA has secured funding to make these extra sessions available for West Australians.

A key element of the pandemic response was encouraging people with diabetes to get vaccinated. LDC put a range of strategies in place to stress the importance of vaccination and to allay fears generated by widespread misinformation. “We had GPs phoning people and we put together videos, with one specifically aimed at ethnic minority groups,” Rachel says. “We had a few celebrities do a video and experts saying, please go and get vaccinated – it’s OK. Those kind of messages really helped people's perception as well.” Bernie says that one positive to emerge from the pandemic, and the multi-systemic nature of COVID, will be a shift towards a more holistic model of patient care, where the patient is more involved in navigating their diabetes journey. This means the LDC will be expanding its education program to reach out to medical professionals across a much broader spectrum. “Some of the work we’ve just started doing is our healthcare professional training,” Rachel says. “We’re not just going to be looking at nurses and GPs, but also at practice receptionists, pharmacists and other health workers, to make sure they too are educated about diabetes, and how they can help and support people. It’s about looking at the whole of the person, rather than just this one thing that they've come in for.”