Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
GPs should visit local care homes each week to check for signs of complications in elderly people with diabetes, according to the academic behind the first guideline on care for older people with the disease.
Professor Alan Sinclair from the Institute of Diabetes for Older People (IDOP) said weekly visits could pick up complications such as infections and help to avoid hospital admissions.
The IDOP guideline, the first such one for older people with diabetes in the UK, sets out clinical standards across 18 areas of care, including screening and diagnosis, prevention, complications, hypoglycaemia and falls.
Professor Sinclair said past guidelines 'ignored' the unique issues faced by older people with diabetes, such as frailty and loss of functional ability. He said there was a particular need to avoid hypoglycaemia.
But patients are often overlooked for aggressive treatment, leading to complications such as blindness and amputation, he said. 'It's a tragedy that so many elderly people suffer these complications when they could be so easily prevented if they were given the care and treatment that they need.'
http://www.gponline.com/News/article/1173492/gps-urged-diabetes-ward-rounds-care-homes/
Professor Alan Sinclair from the Institute of Diabetes for Older People (IDOP) said weekly visits could pick up complications such as infections and help to avoid hospital admissions.
The IDOP guideline, the first such one for older people with diabetes in the UK, sets out clinical standards across 18 areas of care, including screening and diagnosis, prevention, complications, hypoglycaemia and falls.
Professor Sinclair said past guidelines 'ignored' the unique issues faced by older people with diabetes, such as frailty and loss of functional ability. He said there was a particular need to avoid hypoglycaemia.
But patients are often overlooked for aggressive treatment, leading to complications such as blindness and amputation, he said. 'It's a tragedy that so many elderly people suffer these complications when they could be so easily prevented if they were given the care and treatment that they need.'
http://www.gponline.com/News/article/1173492/gps-urged-diabetes-ward-rounds-care-homes/