A focus on with DESMOND Coventry
Example of a virtual session
DESMOND’s latest ‘A focus on….’ links us with the DESMOND Coventry team from Coventry and Rugby GP Alliance, where they share with us their top tips for successful DESMOND virtual delivery.
As part of their pro-active response to provide a service, the Coventry team began by contacting their patients to answer any questions they had, providing them with support and reassurance over the telephone.
Secondly, all Educators received full training from the DESMOND Academy to deliver virtual groups with confidence, whilst re-establishing peer support through reflection and personal action planning. By doing this, the team were been able to continue to provide a much-needed service and support from a team of professionals during a difficult time, ensuring that waiting lists were kept to a minimum.
The team began offering virtual groups in September 2020, using the new format of three two-hour sessions to deliver the full DESMOND course, which was introduced for virtual delivery in 2020. Since then, the Coventry team have been delivering eight (two-hour) sessions per week, and have been able to offer a variety of dates and times to suit all needs, with sessions available Monday to Sunday across mornings, afternoons and evenings – a key factor in their successful virtual offer. Additionally, due to Educator language skills, translations in Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi are offered to meet the wider community needs.
Like many areas, participation numbers for the virtual courses vary between four and ten people with type 2 diabetes, who all have the option to allow someone to join them just as they would if the groups were happening face-to-face.
Patients have expressed how much they have benefitted by being in touch with the DESMOND Coventry team.
Chantell commented, “Early education access is important, especially at the time of diagnosis for all patients. After a year of presenting the course virtually, we now want to audit how this course has improved NICE recommended treatment targets.”
“We are very proud of the synergy that is held within our DESMOND delivery team. This allows us to effectively engage with people with type 2 diabetes, as the groups require a steady flow.” said Surinder.
Both Chantell and Surinder became DESMOND Educators in February 2020, attending DESMOND’s last face-to-face Educator training before the pandemic hit, and have now been some of the first Educators to experience a virtual mentoring visit by our Quality Development team. We look forward to them both achieving Accredited Educator status very soon.
Whilst talking with the DESMOND Coventry team, they spent some time considering what had made their virtual service so successful and alongside the variety of session dates/times as mentioned previously, the following are their top tips:
Administrative support for DESMOND as a whole is essential to maximise patient attendance, this has become even more vital for the offer of virtual patient groups to ensure an effective DESMOND service
Being able to action a referral as soon as it comes in is key; patients are often newly diagnosed and are keen to get information as soon as possible. Their admin support follows this simple but effective process on receipt of a new referral:
Check referral form is complete and return to referrer, if incomplete
Once referral form is complete, the patients’ details are added to the EMIS system
Begin by contacting the patient by telephone:
Offering a choice of dates and times
A small outline of the sessions and who will be delivering them
If English is not first language, this call can be conducted in Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi
Send a confirmation letter – an example can be found here
Nearer to the time of the session, an email is sent to the patients with information for the video (zoom) link.
They also include technical support and tips for logging on, as well as being on-call during the session to support participants who struggle with anything technical
A welcome pack is issued as well; this is sent via email or in the post, depending on patient preference. Documents that are issued before the start of the session are also included:
Preparing for DESMOND booklet
My health profile
Action plan
Blood results - if their latest results are on EMIS these are included in the letter. If not, a blank template for blood results is sent to the participant so they can ask their GP in advance of their first session
Text reminders are sent two days before and on the day of the session
After the second or third session, the following information is sent via email or post:
Getting to Grips with Type 2 diabetes Handbook
Information about MyDESMOND
Signposting information to other related local services
Sharing previous attendees’ positive feedback with patients works really well
If patients do not attend when they are booked, they are followed up with as soon as possible, to rebook for another session. This means ringing and leaving voicemails, and also sending text messages. This keeps patients flowing through our service as quickly as possible
We have also found that working with GP surgeries from across our patch has helped to increase numbers – they search their database for patients with type 2 diabetes who haven’t yet been on the DESMOND course, we then approach them and tell them about the course ourselves. This works really well
We do think the key on the admin side is that we process referrals as quickly and efficiently as possible, to keep the flow of patients steady through our service avoiding large waiting lists, plus we talk to patients as much as we can
“The hard work and dedication that the Coventry team have shown in adapting to this new way of delivering groups is commendable. It is great to be able to share what they have done to achieve this with other DESMOND teams across the UK and Ireland, as well as with our international sites. There is much that can be learnt here about the detailed processes needed to maximise attendance,” remarked Alison Northern, Implementation Manager, DESMOND Central Office.
Below are some examples of patient evaluation feedback that the DESMOND Coventry team have received since launching their virtual groups:
“Excellent Course helping me to understand diabetes better, the hosts were lovely too”
“The course was really well run; the two co-ordinators knew their subject and were really informative. They answered all questions and were really supportive. It was also very interactive which made it more interesting”
“What support I can get from my GP such as foot checks and eye checks”
“I have so much more understanding about diabetes, the effects and long-term risks”
“A greater understanding of diabetes and that it is just not all sugar related”
“Every day small changes will improve diabetes and overall health”
