RACH Diabetic Clinic Newsletter No. 19

Summer 2009

Hopefully by the time you get this the sun will be shining and your plans for summer will be well under way. Remember if you are flying abroad for a holiday always keep your diabetes kit (including your insulin) in your hand luggage, don’t pack it in your suit case. Ask at clinic for a travel letter to ease your way through check-in. If you need a letter before your next visit give the diabetes secretary a phone and she can arrange to have one sent out.

HbA1c

As you may have seen in Diabetes UK publications the way your HbA1c is reported is changing. At present you get your result as a percentage eg 7.5%. Over the next couple of years it will be available as a percentage but also as millimols per mol (mmol/mol) eg 59mmol/mol. From June 2011 the results will only be available as mmol/mol.

There will be no difference in the way the test is taken only in the way it is expressed.

For more details and a table showing different values have a look at the Diabetes UK website or pick up an information sheet when you next come to clinic.

Thank you

Once again some of our families have been very generous to our clinic fund. Scott’s grandparents asked friends and relatives to donate money rather than give them gifts when they recently celebrated their golden wedding anniversary.

And Lesley Anne’s dad organised a sponsored Kick Boxing evening which raised a lot of money.

We are very grateful for these donations. The

money is used to fund resources to improve education sessions for families and for other

initiatives that benefit children attending the clinic.

Welcome back

As we’re sure you are all aware Edna Stewart recently left the children’s clinic nursing team to take up the post as transition nurse based at Woolmanhill.

We are delighted to say that her post has been filled by Colin McNulty. You might remember that Colin was temporarily seconded to the team last year. He has now been successful in gaining this permanent post and is really looking forward to joining the team. Welcome back Colin.

Isla, especially, welcomes his appointment as it has been very difficult working single handed over the last few months. Thank you all for all your patience during this time.

Telephone help

If you telephone the diabetes nurses here at RACH and do not get a reply please leave a message. At this time of year they are out and about a lot doing school visits. They will get back to you as soon as possible. If you need same day medical help or advice please phone the medical ward on 01224 550380.

GlucaGen®

Most of you will seldom if ever have needed to use your GlucaGen® to treat a hypo. It is very important to check the kit is still within date. If

it is nearing expiry get a new one the next time you get a prescription from your

GP. Don’t just throw your old one away, the nurses here can use it for demonstration purposes. Bring it with you next time you come to clinic.

Research

If you are 11 or older in September you may have received an invitation to take part in the ‘Kick-Off’ study, a children’s version of the popular DAFNE (Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating) course. The study will try to find out whether taking the course is valuable in the

management of diabetes in young people. If you are interested in taking part in this worthwhile project please return your reply slip as soon as possible. There are a limited number of study spaces and they will be offered on a first come

basis. For more details you can contact Dr Mayo, Dr Copland or Elsie Carnegie.

JDRF Walk

The main fundraiser for JDRF is once again their sponsored walk at HazleheadPark. This year it is on Sunday September 13. Look out in local press for more details or go to Fingers crossed for a nice day!

Recipe

Sticky Lemon Chicken

This simple recipe is very quick to prepare

For 4 people you need

4 small chicken breasts cut into chunks

1 tablespoon cornflour

2 teaspoons honey

1 tablespoon soy sauce

Juice of 1 lemon (or 2 tablespoons Jif lemon)

250ml chicken stock (use ½ a stock cube)

2 carrots thinly sliced

1 red pepper sliced

150g/5oz sugar snap peas

1-2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Mix together the honey, lemon juice, soy sauce and stock.

Coat the chicken in cornflour

Heat the oil in a shallow pan and fry chicken until its almost cooked. Add the carrots and peppers and fry for 1-2 minutes. Pour over the

stock mixture and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the sugar snap peas and cook a further 2 minutes. The sauce should have thicken and become sticky.

Linda (secretary to the medical team)

01224 550125

Appointments – to change your appointment 01224 552667

Diabetes Nurses :

RACH (Isla & Colin) 01224 552734

Fraserburgh (Sheena) 01346 585244

Dietitians RACH 01224 552630

Out of hours emergency number: 01224 550380 (Medical ward)