Going to University: change diabetes team?

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CharlotteScr

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Hello- QQ about logistics when going to Uni. My daughter is about to go off to University in another part of the country. Very efficiently she changed her GP to the University practice as instructed in all the Freshers instructions. However- does this mean she will have to also change her hospital diabetes care to the service in her Uni town? We wouldn't care too much about not staying with the local team in our home area, but I would be very nervous about a change as she has funding for a CGM and pump, and it would be a catastrophe if she lost it as a result of the move. Any advice? (i think we probably could reverse the GP change if needed) Thanks!
 
Talk to the diabetes team. My daughter has just had her first transition appointment between paeds and young adults, and they said if she goes away to uni they can arrange all her checkups to be during the holidays. So it sounds like you don’t have to transfer if it's only temporary.
 
Sally71 said:
Talk to the diabetes team. My daughter has just had her first transition appointment between paeds and young adults, and they said if she goes away to uni they can arrange all her checkups to be during the holidays. So it sounds like you don’t have to transfer if it's only temporary.
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Thanks! I wonder whether we wouldn't be better to leave her registered GP as the home one then. I will ask!
 
CharlotteScr said:
Hello- QQ about logistics when going to Uni. My daughter is about to go off to University in another part of the country. Very efficiently she changed her GP to the University practice as instructed in all the Freshers instructions. However- does this mean she will have to also change her hospital diabetes care to the service in her Uni town? We wouldn't care too much about not staying with the local team in our home area, but I would be very nervous about a change as she has funding for a CGM and pump, and it would be a catastrophe if she lost it as a result of the move. Any advice? (i think we probably could reverse the GP change if needed) Thanks!
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As a principle, before the change from lots of small CCGs to much bigger geographic based Integrated Care Systems (ICS), you did NOT need to change a Hospital care plan and if you were to be unhappy with a particular hospital you can go elsewhere without any penalty.

So far that still applies today and I can't see any rational reason for that to change. But it's clear that our new local ICS is still struggling to find much commonality between the dispersed former (now lapsed) CCGs and the new ICS for Bucks, Oxford and Berks (BOB). Each county is still turning back to the rules they used to be required to comply with since the new ICS hasn't got its act together yet and there is no comprehensive new "rule book". Its a measure of how unwieldy and slow the NHS can be. So I wouldn't be surprised if once that new "rule book" arrives some things will change, not least because that new "rule book" will have been compiled by administrators who have a happy knack of being out of touch with practicalities of real issues. So a one size fits all framework is established until it becomes apparent that is inappropriate.

Bottom line: I suggest your daughter looks carefully at her local Uni Hospital Facilites, seeing if she might actually get into a better arrangement for her D care, then decide what to do. But staying where she already is should be fine for now. I presume she's now moved into adult care from paediatrics and her former team will have changed anyway.
 
Just had advice from offline friend in the area confirming your replies: apparently it's not uncommon for kids to register with local GP service at their Uni, but to still stay with their old home diabetes service, at least while at Uni. That is a relief!! We will definitely research the Uni town hospital, thank you, as ours is not great, in the hope she might get better care. I know good care is out there somewhere!
 
CharlotteScr said:
Thanks! I wonder whether we wouldn't be better to leave her registered GP as the home one then. I will ask!
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Difficult area ... your daughter will probably need to relocate GP support at some stage in her life and if her Uni is not close to home then a GP close to Uni would make more sense - unless there are horror stories about that Uni GP process.

Change is always challenging and often frightening. Even at my age. We moved 30 miles away, from a rural small Practice to a seemingly massive Civil Medical Practice. So far, far from smooth - missing records, very different dealing with a different person in reception and zero continuity. Really frustrating and I know what I want and roughly how to get what I need. BUT I have to make it work.

My suggestion, with absolutely no insight into the full picture: Perhaps time to let your independent young adult analyse this for herself and learn from the process.
 
Proud to be erratic said:
Difficult area ... your daughter will probably need to relocate GP support at some stage in her life and if her Uni is not close to home then a GP close to Uni would make more sense - unless there are horror stories about that Uni GP process.

Change is always challenging and often frightening. Even at my age. We moved 30 miles away, from a rural small Practice to a seemingly massive Civil Medical Practice. So far, far from smooth - missing records, very different dealing with a different person in reception and zero continuity. Really frustrating and I know what I want and roughly how to get what I need. BUT I have to make it work.

My suggestion, with absolutely no insight into the full picture: Perhaps time to let your independent young adult analyse this for herself and learn from the process.
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Very good suggestion 🙂 bless her she is already on the case. Mum step down please....!
 
CharlotteScr said:
Very good suggestion 🙂 bless her she is already on the case. Mum step down please....!
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I'm secretly veryrelieved. I'd just read your recent post and today's update on "advice needed please" and thought to myself I certainly didn't have a full insight into things. I then felt I was wrong to make any suggestion. Anyway, glad things are working out AND I've just read a lot about ketones and different scenarios for these which I've been blissfully unaware of. Never too old to learn as far as I'm concerned.
 
CharlotteScr said:
Just had advice from offline friend in the area confirming your replies: apparently it's not uncommon for kids to register with local GP service at their Uni, but to still stay with their old home diabetes service, at least while at Uni. That is a relief!! We will definitely research the Uni town hospital, thank you, as ours is not great, in the hope she might get better care. I know good care is out there somewhere!
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I moved GP when I went off to uni, it's much much easier that way, especially when ordering supplies (especially when you forget things!) I would imagine that GPs who serve university towns are generally much more switched on to the issues that young people might face too. My university had a surgery right next to the campus which was almost completely for students (by dint of our sheer number in the local area). They were very good and much more switched on than typical surgeries, things like sports injuries were something they were used to seeing and they were interested and supportive in T1 diabetics and how they manage a student lifestyle.

IMHO, admittedly only based on a small personal sample size, typical surgeries seem to move rather slowly, have a much older average patient age and therefore have experience with different (and not very relevant to a student) problems.

I also moved my consultancy appointments to the local hospital as I was fairly indifferent to the adult clinic service I had recently moved to (in contrast to the good juvenile clinic, where I was diagnosed).

This was definitely a move for the better, I still use the same hospital and have nothing bad to say about their service.
 
SimonP said:
I moved GP when I went off to uni, it's much much easier that way, especially when ordering supplies (especially when you forget things!) I would imagine that GPs who serve university towns are generally much more switched on to the issues that young people might face too. My university had a surgery right next to the campus which was almost completely for students (by dint of our sheer number in the local area). They were very good and much more switched on than typical surgeries, things like sports injuries were something they were used to seeing and they were interested and supportive in T1 diabetics and how they manage a student lifestyle.

IMHO, admittedly only based on a small personal sample size, typical surgeries seem to move rather slowly, have a much older average patient age and therefore have experience with different (and not very relevant to a student) problems.

I also moved my consultancy appointments to the local hospital as I was fairly indifferent to the adult clinic service I had recently moved to (in contrast to the good juvenile clinic, where I was diagnosed).

This was definitely a move for the better, I still use the same hospital and have nothing bad to say about their service.
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Thanks a lot, that makes a lot of sense, very good to know
 
I worked at a Uni and students were encouraged to register with the Uni medical centre or local GP at the start of their course as it caused issues if they needed urgent medical attention and they were not registered locally.
 
Hope it all falls into place for your daughter @CharlotteScr - and no hiccups or glitches emerge with prescriptions or funding.

Hope she has a brilliant time at Uni, and you are reassured by the responses you’ve had. I was diagnosed in my final year, so my switch went from GP / hospital in university city, to everything closer to home when I moved back.
 
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