A nurses’ group driving important breakthroughs in diabetes care in hospitals is celebrating a full decade of making improvements to the way people with diabetes are treated. The occasion was marked by members of the DISN (Diabetes Inpatient Specialist Nurse UK) group when they attended an annual conference earlier this month. The event, celebrated on 1 October marked a special milestone for the group.
The Chair of DISN, Esther Walden (a Diabetes Inpatient Specialist Nurse at the Norfolk & Norwich University NHS Foundation Trust, sitting on the right in the image with the group’s administrator Christine Jones on the left) remembered the origins of the group. “Having started after a gentle nudge from my supportive consultant Professor Mike Sampson, the DISN UK Group is for me a career highlight. I am so proud of how far we have come and what we have achieved, but most of all for the lasting relationships we have formed.”
Inpatient specialists nurses are a key part of diabetes care today, and the DISN boasts a membership of well over 500 people, thanks largely to the efforts of group administrator Christine Jones. The group has come a long way since April 2004, when 27 delegates met in Newmarket.
The group has an excellent forum, allowing nurses to share key issues and resources, sharing their work with the Joint British Diabetes Societies for Inpatient Care Group. DISN, a key NICE stakeholder, has also supported national documents and campaigns, including ThinkGlucose, Diabetes UK, Trend-UK and the London Podiatry leaflets.
