hi andy,
i'm pleased to tell you that they are still very much up and running, the details fpr the cumbria area is 01768 245424, and the co-ordinator is Shelagh Moore (from the DES website). the next closest one to you is the central lancashire one in preston. they are definitely worth attending (even though i am probably biased!). they focus very much on self management, and there is a big theoretical basis to them, including drawing from models on health beliefs, social learning theory amongst others, so it really does put the onus on the patient learning as much as they can for themselves during the session, rather than us just giving you the answers on a plate (people who are just 'given' the information tend not to retain much after education sessions). we go through what diabetes is, risk factors and how to minimise them, sugars, fats, blood sugar monitoring, physical activity, and personal goal setting, and include some bits where you can join in, eg, guessing how many sugar cubes in certain foods ( like 22 cubes of sugar in a standard bottle of lucozade!!). all of the feedback we get at the end of the sessions (throug the evaluation forms) are very positive, including people that admit they thought it was going to be boring and like being back at school, really enjoy it. as an educator it's lovely seeing people's "light-bulb moments" as i've nicknamed them.
hope this answers your question! if you're still struggling to get hold of someone, let me know, and i'll see what i can do. alternatively, you can contact Alison Harding at DES central office (lovely lady!), and she should be able to sort you out.
pippa
