"Insulin Pump Start up"

I would like to use this forum to shout out my sincere thanks to the Shetland Diabetic Care Team and especially our Diabetic Specialist Nurse ,Consultant Physician and Consultant Diabetologist.

On Monday four type one diabetics celebrated along with our care team as we switched on our new insulin pumps for the first time with help from the visiting pump rep.

Most importantly we were able to stay here in Shetland for the whole process - a first for Shetland Health Board.  Pervious "new starts" would have had to go to Aberdeen as inpatients for 7 -10 days I believe. We were out-patients for the whole training, insulin initiation, settling in period and follow ups. This meant we were able to be in our own homes and follow our own normal routines making the adjustments more real and fine tuned . Immediate family,  Dietician and Pharmacy were all able to join in the training.  The VC contact with our Aberdeen based Consultant Diabetologist and data transfer technology for blood glucose readings has ensured high level monitoring.

The benefits for the four of us will be a significant improvement in our long term prognosis and ultimate goal of reduced complications. Being able to be an out-patient has definitely helped me to adjust to life on a pump far quicker and has been a lot less stressful. This represents smart use of resources as well as vastly enhancing the patient experience. Skills have been further developed locally across the team and considerable cost savings will have been made both short and long term.

There are many people who have helped this day a red-letter day and they should all be proud of the extensive planning process and collective willingness to realise the vision of local insulin pump start-ups. This has significantly helped our treatment transfer.

My sincere thanks goes to all within Shetland and Grampian Health Boards who have enabled this specific improvement in patient care experience. Thank you for supporting us to take this new treatment journey. It is fantastic to have you alongside us all the way!