Institute of Diabetes for Older People

Aiming for excellence in diabetes care

News

Universidad Publica de Navarra hosts a meeting of the investigators of the MID-Frail Study in Tudela, Spain

The MID-Frail Study is an EU-funded project which will examine the benefits of a nutritional, exercise and educational intervention programme on the health of elderly people with type 2 diabetes in Europe. The first meeting of the investigators was held at the Public University of Navarre in Tudela, northern Spain, in the third week of April, and the content of the programme was unveiled at a press conference attended by Alfonsa Carlosena, Vice Chancellor for Research at UPNA, Professor Leocadio Rodriguez Manas, Project Director and Chief of Geriatrics at the Hospital of Getafe in Madrid, Professor Alan Sinclair, Scientific Lead and Director of the Institute of Diabetes for Older People (IDOP) at the University of Bedfordshire, UK, and Professor Mikel Izquierdo, Professor at the Department of Health Sciences at UPNA.

The MID-Frail Study will run for four years in 59 centres across Europe and will involve more than 1700 people over the age of 70 years. The study investigators, who are drawn from 16 institutions across Europe including Belgium, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, the Czech Republic and the UK, will spend the week in Tudela attending meetings to plan the implementation of the project later in the summer.

 

 

Read more

IDOP leads National Care Home Diabetes Audit in a multi-agency collaborative venture

Professor Alan Sinclair, Director of IDOP, is pleased to announce the forthcoming National Audit of diabetes care within residential and nursing care homes. This project was an expected key outcome of the recently-published Diabetes UK national guidance on diabetes in care homes (2010) which has sought to enhance the standard of care received by residents with diabetes. Diabetes affects one in four residents and can be a troubling condition leading to various vascular and metabolic complications, and lowering the quality of life of residents who already have significant challenges to their wellbeing.

Information from the recently-completed Beds & Herts Care Home Audit Pilot revealed significant variations in the knowledge and training of care home staff who deal with residents with diabetes on a regular basis. There was also evidence of inconsistent documentation including specific policies for the management of diabetes.

This work, which seeks partnership with ABCD and other key stakeholders, seeks to identify a number of important quality standards that can be picked up by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to be used for assessment of the quality of care being delivered in care home settings. A Steering Group is being established to oversee this work.

Read more

IDOP hosts the MID-Frail filming event in Luton

On the 13th March, IDOP hosted a two-day filming event at Putteridge Bury, University of Bedfordshire, Luton. In association with Niche Science and Technology, IDOP arranged a high-quality filming crew to produce a DVD for training and educational purposes for the MID-Frail investigators. This will be shown in Tudela, Spain in April 2012 when representatives from seven EU countries will gather to discuss arrangements for delivering the MID-Frail Study over the course of the next four years.

The co-leads for the Study, Professor Leo Rodriguez Manas (Project Co-ordinator, Madrid) and Professor Alan Sinclair (Scientific Co-ordinator, UK), assembled a cast for the DVD including colleagues from Spain, Germany and the UK, together with patient representatives from the UK.

As exercise (resistance training) will be a key feature of the interventions for the Study, patients were filmed using two exercise machines. No significant problems with carrying out the required exercises were encountered in the elderly patients with diabetes who had volunteered to participate in the filming. The exercise intervention was overseen by Professor Mikel Izquierdo from Tudela, Spain, and the nutritional and patient educational intervention was described by Professor Andrej Zeyfang, Stuttgart, Germany.

Read more

D-STOP and D-STOP Plus: two new diabetes support and educational tools being developed by IDOP

IDOP will be examining the results of focus group methodology, data from audit and surveys, an anonymised primary care database, and health professional workshops to assist in the development of software which can be used in clinical decision-making, predominantly in primary care settings.

D-STOP (Diabetes Support Tool for Older People) will be mainly concerned with the needs of older patients with diabetes and their carers. D-STOP Plus will be a clinical support tool to assist clinicians in managing the often complex illness in ageing individuals.

Key issues such as functional level, influence of medical co-morbidities, multiple medications, history of hypoglycaemia, and the availability of current care packages will all be considered. Professor Sinclair feels that there is great scope for developing such tools in routine clinical practice.

Read more