support

It can happen to any of us, but you should have contact details for your DSN if you feel you need help with something. My diabetes clinic appointment the other day was cancelled, (Covid-19) but I had already been in touch with my consultant using email, reporting back on my current situation with BS results. Have you got contact details for the people you normally see ? If you haven't, try asking for them. Sometimes, you only get what you want if you actually ask straight out. You should have a phone no. for your DSN at least.

I recently changed hospitals as I could easily go a year between appointments and even then, I would have to get in touch and ask for one. I got fed up of it as I was really struggling and felt I wasn't getting any support. I'm really glad I changed hospitals, my new consultant is lovely and gives me plenty of opportunities to ask questions. The clinic has a helpline you can ring for help too.

Since the local hospital diabetic clinic passed diabetes management to my GP's surgery U have not seen a Diabetic specialist in over 10 years.

All that hapoens now is annual bloods, Blood Pressure with nurse option to have eyes checked and finally review with GP with the usual Statins hard sell.

You can still ask to be referred back to the hospital if you have a reason to want to see them, ie, some real issue to discuss. My surgery's GPs admit they know nothing about insulin and cannot give me any useful advice on any related matter. I am doing my best to educate one of them, feeding him a little info every time I have an appointment.

Hi, have your tried asking for an email address? I'm always told they can't justify a clinic more than once a year, and to take that as a good sign as I'm clearly doing things right. The waiting lists however mean my last four clinics have each been one and a half years apart. It is always stressed that I can ring or email inbetween if I need help, or contact my DSN. I've also been reduced to 8 monthly now I have the libre.

I am very lucky to be attached to a great clinic and always have access to someone by phone for times I don’t have appointments. Have only needed to ring twice in the last 6 years, but got immediate help and support.
@bmtest in the Type 1 NHS official guidelines it states you should have access to a consultant not just a GP.

Roberta B said:

I see my diabetic nurse and doctor once every 6 months but a lot of the time my appointment gets cancelled and I can go for a year without seeing a specialist. I'm good with my diabetes but like anyone I struggle and don't always know what I'm doing wrong. Does anyone else have this problem or is it just my doctors?

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Yes but I've had it for 40 years now! I tend to find that the nurses are better on practical issues whereas the doctor is there to check in on my co morbidities i.e. heart disease, kidney disease, retinal and foot health based upon checks for the latter and blood/urine tests for the former. My hba1c falls into the categories of 'could do better' to ' we need to do something' and occasionally 'well done'. Trying to have a discussion about low carb high fat is near impossible as the consultants are not interested.