The Diabetes Dietitians are a team who work alongside diabetes nurses, medical specialists, other health professionals and clerical staff to provide expert advice to help manage people with diabetes. We cover three hospital sites (Heartlands, Good Hope and Solihull). Our aim is to help patients improve their diabetes control and reduce the risk of long term complications. Referrals to our service are received from hospital staff, GPs, practice nurse or other health professionals.
Based on the information obtained from the patients, we will provide practical and realistic nutrition advice that will help to improve health.
We provide advice on areas such as:
- Healthy Eating and Diabetes
- Weight Management / Loss
- Cholesterol/Blood Pressure reduction
- Small Appetite / Weight Gain
- Diabetes and Diet-Related disorders such as Coeliac disease
- Exercise
- Carbohydrate Counting
- Nutrition and Type 1 diabetes
- Pregnancy and diabetes
- Nutrition and your insulin pump.
- We support consultant diabetology clinics, insulin pump therapy clinics, run patient education courses and group sessions. We also provide education and training to health care professionals within the trust.
Group education and structured education courses:
HET1E – (Heart of England Type 1 Education) HET1E is a 4 day course spread over one day a week for 4 weeks. The course is recognised as meeting the national requirements for structured education for people with Type 1 Diabetes. The course covers dose adjustment of insulin for carbohydrate’s, management of exercise, illness and introduction to insulin pump therapy. The course is run by a qualified diabetes nurse and diabetes dietitian. For those who cannot make a 4 day course, we advise completing the free online BERT1E course which follows a similar structure. https://www.bertieonline.org.uk/
XPERT insulin
Xpert insulin is a 6 day course spread across one day a week for 6 weeks in a row. Run jointly by a qualified diabetes nurse and diabetes dietitian the course supports people with Type 2 Diabetes taking insulin. The course covers a large range of topics;
Week 1 what is diabetes and how to understand your health results
Week 2 Nutrition and dietary approaches
Week 3 Carbohydrate counting and understanding how insulins work
Week4 Managing complications with diabetes and high or low blood glucose levels
Week 5 matching insulin to carbohydrate intake
Week 6 group quiz and consolidating learning
The course currently is run at Heartlands Hospital for patients who have their diabetes care under our hospitals. Courses are also run by the Solihull Community Diabetes Team for persons with their diabetes care under a Solihull GP and under Birmingham community team for persons with their Diabetes care under a Birmingham GP. Please contact us for more information.
Carbohydrate counting
Our carbohydrate counting work shop is a practical 2 hour group class ideal for people newly diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes or those with Type 1 Diabetes who need to refresh their carbohydrate counting skills. The workshop is run by a qualified diabetes dietitian. Groups run at Heartlands, Solihull and Good Hope Hospitals, please contact us to find out the next workshop available
EDITH – Education for insulin pump users
A full study day with experienced diabetes professionals covering updates and helpful tips for insulin pump therapy users
Gestational diabetes
A weekly 30 minute talk around healthy eating and how to manage blood glucose levels for ladies newly diagnosed with gestational diabetes. We also offer one to one phone or clinic appointments for individualised support.
Contact details
For more information about any of our courses or other enquiries please phone 0121 424 3146 or email diabetesdietitians@heartofengland.nhs.uk
Useful websites
www.diabetes.org.uk – General diabetes information covers all aspects of diabetes.
https://www.xperthealth.org.uk/
Exercise: www.runsweet.com www.extod.org
For Health Care Professionals:www.warwick.ac.uk/go/diabetes – A website for health care professionals which identifies recognised courses that can be attended to improve diabetes knowledge.
Patient information leaflets
Please see : https://www.uhb.nhs.uk/pi-diabetes.htm
