Diabetes services for west Essex 

I would absolutely recommend the course to others and I’ve been doing it ever since I started to anybody I know. So X-PERT is suitable for anyone with type two diabetes from newly diagnosed to those who may have had diabetes for a while, and also on any type of medication to manage their diabetes. So the benefits of attending X-PERT course gives people the time to think about the goals they want to set around their health. It gives information about how to manage diabetes and allows them to explore different goal setting within a group environment which is in a relaxed atmosphere with group participation. The course was amazing, learned a lot of different things, really did lots of knowledge about diabetes and my main aim was to avoid diabetes so I learned lots of things that I should do to avoid it. People can access the course either by being referred by their healthcare team or they can contact us directly on our phone line or email us. I’m actually here for my husband and his two brothers who were all invited to come on this course, so I rang and said could I volunteer to listen and I’ll instruct them. So it was all through the GP. Three different GPs, and I was allowed to attend on their behalf. So the X-PERT course covers a whole range of topics to do with lifestyle and management of diabetes we look at different dietary approaches, we look at the different  medications that are used for the management of diabetes, possible complications of diabetes exercise. But the main thing is really to find ways of managing your diabetes through the different techniques and actions that we provide during the course. We do group sessions face to space with a maximum of 20 participants. We also run virtual groups as well, which can be mornings, evenings afternoon. Each session runs for two and a half hours over a six week period. Quite often people have an appointment and they’re unable to attend all six sessions, so we always offer them the opportunity to catch up by joining another course – either in person or online. The new knowledge I gained in this course is going to help me to live a healthier life. I think what’s important about X-PERT is that it is a relaxed education experience – it’s not a teacher led experience – it is led by the group. We try and make it fun as well as educational and a lot of people do like the fact that they’re meeting people with type 2 diabetes. They can bounce ideas off each other and help each other over the six week period it’s a good scheme that because that each week it’s uh you recap what happens every week so that it can become entrenched. So it’s a very well organised course and the booklet that we’ve got given is very useful indeed. With my experience I think I will definitely recommend this course to everyone whoever is in need of it or perhaps who are a carer for somebody who has a diabetes. It was incredibly informative it was well structured and I thoroughly enjoyed it and thank you.   

I definitely recommend the course to others because literally this will eventually save your life ‘cause it’s not just about keeping your sugar levels lower, it’s about your everyday life – from exercising to just being a person which is under control of themselves. DAFNE is a structured education course for people with type one diabetes who are on multiple daily insulin injections. We deliver DAPHNE in three main ways here: you can either do it face to face one day a week, for five weeks face to face as a full week Monday to Friday, or we also do it remotely as well which is based on six weekly half day sessions virtually and some online work as well. Everything that you think you know about diabetes we is out the window ‘cause this actually what I’ve been learning over the past 3 weeks has taught me that I’ve been doing it all wrong, basically, so now and my levels are now going down and I feel a lot better so what’s covered in the course. We have food models so we learn about carbohydrate counting – that’s an essential basic principle with DAPHNE. Then we also learn about correct insulin injection technique so we talk about that we see videos about that as well then we have the course books of all the information so that people can take those away and have resources at home about how to manage their diabetes and count their carbs, take their insulin and get the balance right for them. I’ve got the book that comes with the DAPHNE course that you can take home and think “Well if I didn’t remember that, let’s have a look.” so you’ve always got something to refer to. People can get on the course either by referral from the hospital when they’re diagnosed with type 1 diabetes or from their GP or practice nurse or they can self-refer. Many people find out about type 1 diabetes from their friends who’ve also been on the course. DAPHNE is a research-based program and lots of evidence has come from it over the years. In particular, we know that attending Daphne will help with improving your diabetes long term and we’ve seen an improvement in quality of life for many people that have done DAPHNE well. I’ve always run quite high. My sugar levels have been high all the time and get them lower has been a real problem because I didn’t really know what I was doing I was guessing it I was a Russian Roulette insulin taker so now I actually know how to work out the carbs and what I’m actually doing, and it just brings you down you just you feel better in yourself physically. I would say it’d be really great to sign up for DAFNE because it can give you freedom in your food choices, it can give you freedom from having to avoid foods that you thought before you had to avoid, you can have those foods ‘cause now you know how to have them and balance them with your insulin. I would recommend DAPHNE because you do learn a lot, no one judges you, you’re okay to say something wrong, no one’s going to think you’re silly – we’re all here to learn and we’re all actually here for the same thing.