A Focus on: DESMOND across Nottinghamshire County Part Two

Last month, we shared the story of DESMOND Nottinghamshire and their journey of establishing the DESMOND brand across the county and the impact of COVID-19.

In this month’s ‘A focus on..’ we want to share with you the patient experiences and outcomes, as well as the data presented at the Diabetes UK 2019 conference.

Patient outcomes and experience

At the heart of DESMOND, and the top priority for the Nottinghamshire team, are the participants and ensuring they receive the care and support they require.

Since the service was established in 2015, the team have received some excellent feedback: 99.5% of participants were clear about the main messages that were given, 98.6% of participants were able to identify what skills/knowledge they needed to help them manage their diabetes and 97.4% of participants were able to understand all the information that was given, to summarise a few key areas.

It has been such a delight to read through the patient experiences Hannah Walters (Diabetes Educator) has shared with us. We have listed some of the fantastic feedback the team has received below:

“Thank you for the course I attended yesterday. I found it so interesting and informative. Hannah and Kate made it so entertaining, I thought I would get bored with such a long day but it passed so quickly. I appreciate what you are doing, keep up the good work” – DESMOND participant

“Very informative, as a health professional I felt it has given me confidence in encouraging diabetes patients to attend the DESMOND course and to encourage lifestyle change. Advice was excellent and evidence based. Good course for all registered nurses to attend due to increasing caseload of diabetes patients” – Practice Nurse

Evidence-Based Education

From the outset the DESMOND Nottinghamshire team wanted to try and review the clinical outcomes of participants attending a DESMOND course. This will allow them to truly understand and appreciate the difference the intervention can make to individuals living with type 2 diabetes within their catchment area.

The team received invaluable support from the Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust’s Applied Information Team to allow this piece of work to be completed. Records from the Nottinghamshire DESMOND team’s patient database were examined between 1 April 2016 – 31 July 2018. HbA1c bloods results for the cohort were collected at baseline, 6- and 12-months post completion of a DESMOND face-to-face group education course. The cohort included 1,123 participants with an average age of 62 years old and 52.2.% were male.

Changes in HbA1c level were analysed for statistical significance and the findings were presented by Hannah at the 2019 Diabetes UK Conference in Liverpool. The team were able to demonstrate a significant reduction in HbA1c sustained for 12-months post DESMOND education.

The diagram opposite, demonstrates the study results in greater detail.

Since this study the team have continued to remain interested in reviewing the clinical outcomes of participants accessing their service. Work is currently ongoing around assessing the outcomes of those participants accessing the MyDESMOND digital programme, so watch this space!

Thank you

The success of DESMOND across Nottinghamshire County wouldn’t be possible without the hard work and dedication of the team and their drive to provide the best possible service and care for their participants. The DESMOND service sits within the wider Nutrition and Dietetic department, with the team consisting of Dietitians, a Dietetic Practitioner, Diabetes Educators and Lay Educators alongside Clerical Officers who provide invaluable support

Poster presented at 2019 Diabetes UK Conference. Please click the image for a closer view.

DESMOND awards won by the DESMOND Nottinghamshire team