Diabetes Colchester and East Essex Voluntary Group

During our regular meetings at the Hythe Community Centre this year, we have enjoyed talks from Mary Tompkins on commissioning of services and an interesting discussion on who should be using test strips and having them issued on prescription. Check with your Health Care Professional or our website for more information. Andrew Barker came along and put us to the test on Foot Care, just to see if we were on the ball also to update us on what is good and bad for our feet. Remember, most of us use our feet all day every day so good feet are important. Maureen Bancroft was to be in the firing line for a Q&A session in September but was unable to attend as she retired officially in late August. You may still see her at the Hospital from time-to-time as she now does two days a week only. On the last weekend of October, the Eastern Region Office will hold its annual Conference at Norwich. There may be a few places left if you wish to attend, so please contact the Eastern Region office for more details, including overnight accommodation deals.

2012 is shaping up to be an interesting year with it being a Leap year. The Queen celebrates her Diamond Jubilee and the Olympic and Paralympic Games are to be held in London. There will only be one Bank Holiday in May (the early one) with the other being put into June, to give an extra long weekend to celebrate the Queens reign. If your Village or Community is doing anything special next year let us know then we can arrange to be there.

Thank you for your help and I look forward to seeing you at one of these events.

Peter Blackburn chair

Awarded to anyone under the age of 16 who can say Diabetes isn't the end of the world; has shown an improvement in their general life, school work and Diabetes control.
Do you know anyone who has these qualities or someone who, if given the right encouragement, could show them? Now is the time to contact us with a few details of that person. The award comes with a Trophy and £25 gift vouchers. Entries to be submitted by the end of March 2012 please

On Saturday 10th September Olive Entwistle held a 'Care for a Cuppa day' at her home in Elmstead Market. there was a Raffle, Tombola, Bring & Buy, Guess the name of the bear, Guess the number of Buttons in a jar as well as Tea and Coffee available to all who arrived on a bright day. The amount raised was approx £150 with some still to count. Thank you, Olive and Peter, for allowing your house to be turned up side down for the day.

The 100 Club for 2012 is due to start in January 2012 (although the January draw will not take place until our meeting in March, as well as February's and March's). Applications for entries should be sent to:

together with an entry fee of £6 per entry as soon as possible. We award two prizes per draw, the first for £15 and the other for £5.
Enter now and Good luck.

The application form is saved in Acrobat format. A reader can be downloaded from the Adobe website by clicking on their icon below.

It has been brought to the attention of the branch that there are some people in the community who have not been given up to date advice regarding good practice in handling syringes, needles and lancet devices. We have added a page with information and best practices.
Click here for details

Andrew Barker (Clinical Head of Podiatry at the Anglian Community Enterprise) hosted a very interesting and informative "Do's & Dont's" session with our members. Seven main points can be seen by clicking on the link below.

Guidelines For Home Blood Glucose Monitoring
For Patients With Type 1 & Type 2 Diabetes

These guidelines have been written in accordance with The North East Essex Diabetes Network Task Force, The National Service Framework for Diabetes, Diabetes UK and NICE guidelines.
Click here for details

WASTED medication is costing NHS North East Essex £5 million a year, local health chiefs have revealed!

In a bid to save money to pay for other vital services, GPs and pharmacies across north east Essex have joined together with NHS North East Essex to launch a major new campaign to tackle the problem.
Click here for details

The X-PERT Programme is a six-week diabetes education programme. You will learn all about the up-to-date treatments and management of diabetes and will have the opportunity to explore and address problems/issues you may have with your diabetes.

The programme has been shown to improve diabetes control, reduce diabetes tablets/insulin, increase self management skills, improve lifestyle and quality of life.
Click here for details