LIVING
she offers some insights to the service
here. “Calls do vary by day of the week
– Monday, tuesday and friday are our
busiest days, but we get roughly 2,500
calls per month. We are a team of 18, this
includes myself, our advocacy Manager,
Information Officer, Support Officer and
Careline Counsellors who work a mix of
part-time and full-time positions.”
from the late 1980s the Care
Department of Diabetes uK provided
an informal helpline service for many
years. Since 1993, it officially became
the ‘Careline’. In the early days calls were
being dealt with by whoever was available
from different teams within the Care
Department. Both the nature of the calls
(callers were often emotionally distressed)
as well as the increase in number and lack “We talk about all sorts of topics and overall, people want to talk
of confidentiality called for a more specific
service, geared towards callers’ needs. through how diabetes affects their (or a loved one’s) life on a daily
says Karen, “the most common basis – many people need some emotional support. as a result
topic of discussion is diet, and followed
with anxiety on managing blood glucose of this, most of the team join as trained counsellors or therapists”
levels, monitoring, medication and -- Karen Wrack, Diabetes UK
equipment. However, we do talk about all
sorts of topics and overall, people want to
talk through how diabetes affects their (or Looking to the future, there are plans Dana r insulin pump and Dexcom seven
a loved one’s) life on a daily basis – many to expand the service offered by Diabetes plus and G4 CGM and related software.
people need some emotional support. uK’s Careline. “We already do have an the support is provided by uK product
as a result of this, most of the team join email service,” says Karen, “but in the specialists – there are no external call
as trained counsellors or therapists, but near future we’ll be offering a much faster centres used.”
everyone will receive in-depth training on response for this service. We also connect
all aspects of diabetes from diabetes- with lots of people through our facebook Increasing capacity
specialist healthcare professionals.” page and twitter, and we are looking at sheena anderson-Green is the training
developing new services, such as instant and Quality Manager, Customer support
Affected by diabetes chat, which may be really popular with for Medtronic Diabetes. Medtronic has
It’s interesting – and probably a good thing younger people.” the biggest base of insulin pump users
-- that in many diabetes organizations there for diabetics using some of the more in the uK. she says, “the Medtronic
are staff who have diabetes. It’s the case with cutting edge technology, one of the most helpline has gone from strength to
Diabetes uK and its careline. “We do have important aspects of careline support is strength growing in size and ability to
(and have had) some staff who are affected that it’s 24/7. John r Hughes, Managing deal with increasing capacity. In 2012 we
by diabetes – they may have diabetes Director of advanced therapeutics received 13,000 calls to the helpline. the
themselves, have a partner with diabetes or (uK) Ltd has introduced the Dexcom number of calls we receive grows every
have a child with diabetes,” confirms Karen, Continuous Glucose Monitor device month as more and more patients start
who sasy, “This can definitely help give a to the uK. He says, “twenty-four-hour to use insulin pumps to help manage their
different perspective to their work.” technical support is provided for both the condition.”