Ridiculous appointment situation

@chrisf-1 . Sounds crazy I have to agree with you there.
Personally I would ask to be put in contact with the practice manager. Explain the situation, inconvenience and annoyance.
Ask how and why this is happening.
May not get you an earlier appointment but it’ll get it off your chest.
If you’re still not happy then I believe you can take it to a higher level, the practice manager should let you know how to take further action.
A diabetic nurse with no or little knowledge of type 1?????? It’s not that unusual to be honest.

That's what happened to me! Message from surgery to book DSN appt.
Rang and none available. Had to keep ringing back. Stupid situation, too many diabetics, not enough appts I was told.

By the time I got to see her I'd dropped from diabetic to prediabtic levels without any HCP support.

I realise you need the appointment for other checks, but could you ask the receptionist for the a1c value?

I find that it is easier to pop into the surgery when I get my annual reminder for my type1 check up.

The receptionist, usually clued up, will book an appointment the nurse to take the blood, first thing as it's fasting. At the same time they book a diabetic nurse appointment with a GP appointment 15 minutes later. This will usually be for7 days later to allow time for the results to come back.

The advice to physically come in to sort the appointment was given at my very first diabetic check up and has served me well over the last 5 or so years.

Do you also get seen at a diabetes clinic (at a hospital not GP practice) as well?

Hi again, not after my initial diagnosis. I attended a local hospital clinic a couple of weeks after initial diagnosis to confirm that the information and training given at the hospital had stuck. I also saw a frighteningly young dietician who was really clued up about carbs and so on.
I agreed with the clinic that there was no point in having regular appointments as long as things were going well and was given their contact details should I need advice.
Luckily, my diabetes has always been consistent and hypo awareness good. In the early days I kept loads of notes to crosscheck the effects of medication were repeatable.
I did ask my GP if I should see a consultant, but as he pointed out, it would be a waste of resource, and I couldn't disagree.

I've always felt lucky that I was diagnosed type 1 as it seems a lot more controllable than type 2. Knowledge is the key, and this forum is one of the best places to learn and get advice.

Hope this helps.

Hi @jackois your GP will be aware of diabetes BUT he/she is a GENERAL practitioner and not a diabetic specialist same goes for the GPs "diabetic" nurse. A quick story about my GPs diabetic specialist nurse.....I have been on an insulin pump since February this year. I had an appointment to see the nurse to discuss my repeat prescriptions, she said to me that since I have been on the pump I have not ordered any basal insulin!!! I told her then that she is never to give me any advice on diabetes ever again!!!!!
A diabetic consultant will have all the up top date info on diabetes related items such as new insulins and the likes. It would be beneficial to you and your diabetes to be seeing a consultant/DSN at your local hospital and I would be asking your GP to refer you ASAP

Presumably they are making sure you have eye and feet exams? I don't find my consultant appointments hugely useful but the ones with the GP practice are worse that useless!

@porl69 and @Circuspony

Hi again, my previous GP, who recently retired, was well up on diabetes, as he had trained under the consultant who saw me and asked me to pass on his regards. Time will tell whether his replacement will be as good.

With respect to the practice nurses, I'm well aware that they can be lacking in knowledge and believe this to be down to them being 'jack of all trades'. It's the same nurses that do flu jabs, change dressings, take blood samples and so on. However, mainly they follow a checklist which will flag up items that they should check and feed any concerns through to the GP. They have, in the past, been diligent enough to call me back for a doppler scan when they weren't sure of a foot pulse. I also see a chiropodist every 3 months to have my feet checked, nails trimmed and hard skin removed, and she does the pulse checks as well.

As for eye checks, in our area, once you are registered as type 1, your annual retinopathy check is dealt with by the eye screening service. All other things eyewise are dealt with by my optician.

I think we all have our own ways of managing our diabetes and my original post was focussed on my theory that some things are better done face to face rather than on the telephone.

I know this thread has wandered away from the original post, but I'm still wondering if @chrisf-1 got sorted?

cheers all.