"The Hospital" CH4 Prog on Diabetes Mon 16th August 9pm

[Monica]

I totally agree with Copepod! It's not suitable for under 18's. I recorded the programme thinking I might watch it with C. I watched it last night and deleted it immediately. I could not watch the foot scene, althoug I did see the amputated bit in the bowl 😱.

I was a bit surprised that they didn't distinguish the types very well. It also seemed to me that the doctor was a bit confused (and so was I) whether the girl who has type 2 was on insulin or not.

Someone on here said they could slap the 16 year old. Well, I could slap mum!!! And also the other girl's mum. She saw her dad diet because he had diabetes only to die, so she's not even going to bother dieting!!! Well, doesn't she realise she could die even younger that her dad was?

I know I'm a pain in C's b'side, but until she moves out I will continue to be one. I'm just dreading C suddenly not being "bovvered".

 

[richardq]

I thought it was a very interesting programme, especially with relation to the complications that were discussed. TV is never going to show what happens when diabetes is well controlled because it would be dull - nothing would happen!

It has got me wondering about how long my T1 diabetes (probably self-inflicted according to the undertone of the programme) went undiagnosed, as my Hb1ac was 14.5 at diagnoisis, and whether I have gone a fair way into setting myself up for having toes chopped off, and hanging dialysis bags from my curtain rails.


xx

 

[novorapidboi26]

T1 diabetes (probably self-inflicted according to the undertone of the programme)

Did anybody else get that impression...............how can type 1 be self inflicted?

 

[Steff]

To be honest I dont think they was much in it i would not want my child to see accept the foot scene,they was no bad language that i can remember.

 

[CarolK]

im with Monica, I just couldnt stand by and let my 15 year old get drunk and not inject etc. I was amazed that she wasnt feeling worse than she did, I would imagine you would soon end up in A & E doing that,
My son always says I "do his head in" but I would rather do that than stand by and do nothing.

 

[PhilT]

I missed the program unfortunately, it was set in my local hospital too so I would have liked to have seen it.

I suppose I might be able to see it on C4's internet tv web site.

 

[novorapidboi26]

I hope you turn up for your appointments........😛

Tell them all to come on here and we will wip them into shape.......

 

[PhilT]

I hope you turn up for your appointments........😛

Tell them all to come on here and we will wip them into shape.......

I am not treated at the hospital. The only thing I go there for is the retinopathy scan, the rest is all done at my local surgery.

 

[Twitchy]

im with Monica, I just couldnt stand by and let my 15 year old get drunk and not inject etc. I was amazed that she wasnt feeling worse than she did, I would imagine you would soon end up in A & E doing that,
My son always says I "do his head in" but I would rather do that than stand by and do nothing.

My (very patient,bless!) hubby & I sat up late talking about this program... we have done lots of work with teenagers (he still does) & have 2 kids, so this was a horrible program to watch, not just from a personal diabetic point of view... hubby made the point that ok, most teenagers are going to experiment with drink at some point, but even assuming someone was going to let their 16 yr old get drunk to celebrate their birthday (personally not convinced!) he would have thought of making a deal with the kid, ie "fine, you get to let your hair down a bit this one night, the condition being I take control of your diabetes, I WILL be testing your levels every hour or two & I WILL be making sure you have your injections etc as necessary!" We were a bit gobsmacked that the girl was evidently drinking a lot for anyone habitually, let alone a diabetic 16 yr old...

Re the doc's 'fat' comments again - sorry to harp on but not being diabetic he only has a text book understanding of how hard it can be to lose weight whilst on insulin - how hard it is to maintain genuinely good control whilst juggling the effects of exercise, insulin, food intake, etc etc - not wanting to get personal, but I noted with interest that despite his head start of not having to overcome this additional challenge, he himself was of a 'cuddly' disposition...so given the additional challenges, and frankly unsupportive attitude of the families, how are the teenagers to succeed? I know several diabetics who used to skip injections as teenagers so as to avoid putting on weight! 😱 The diabetes / weight issue really, really needs to be carefully handled...

All the above said, and as a tax payer, I do sympathize with the frustrations he would have felt seeing the empty waiting rooms - i actually was impressed that he didn't just start firing off snotty letters...Not sure what the best way of engaging the 'difficult ones' would be, but suspect getting them to meet other diabetic teens so they are not the odd one out might be a start?... big big issue!!!

 

[novorapidboi26]

I just assumed when he was talking about wieght and how they are obvious lying about diet that it was type 2s

Type 1s can be overwieght but still have good control as they have total control of insulin consumption

 

[Twitchy]

From memory he didn't make it particularly clear, and for example the T2 girl was on insulin (which he then changed to Byetta because of her weight). It just came across as just a bit of a sweeping statement soundbite at the end.... yes type 1s can be overweight & controlled, but as I said, it can be very difficult to actually maintain good control whilst losing weight (in my experience at least! Maybe I'm missing something really obvious! 🙄😉)

 

[novorapidboi26]

your right it is hard to maintain good control while excercising to lose weight................

I made assumptions too.......I didnt think she was on insulin........is bayetta not completely different from insulin??????

And by that I mean byeatta doesnt allow glucose to travel into the cells!

 

[Sugarbum]

Hiya,

I couldnt get online last night, and it was killing me!

I feel as if I am carrying the worry of that teen with the "HI" BM who hasnt tested for "months" on my shoulders overnight because her parents arent....is that mad? This isnt fiction, this is someone real, who smokes, drinks, gets wasted and has type one diabetes and a community DSN who is trying to encourage her to test "in the party season"????? Excuse me?????

Oh this girl. Yes, infertility is serious (mum) but we know people in the D community who we have lost (especially in CWD) and I would be seriously concerned this girl could lose her life through lack of education and support......binge drinking, no insulin and no testing....I could cry.

Im sad on behalf of the parents on here who we know to loving, supportive, caring and who would move mountains to ensure their children are as minimally affected by this as possible.

The undertone of the whole series is essentially how people abuse themselves and the NHS healthcare system- perhaps why I like it so much as its a voice for a lot of things that are frustrating when you work in that context. However, we are a community on this board for support and help and I dont think this represents "us" as a whole. Where is programme about the people who dilligently finger prick 4-8 times a day, attend their appointments, live with it and strive for better?

Sigh.

I will watch it again to see if I take anything else from it, now I know what to expect. Oh, and I will be looking away at the toe- YUCK!!!

 

[Emmal31]

I think that they could have gone into detail a bit more about the different types and followed a couple of cases who were well controlled but then that would have made boring tv (I would have liked to have seen it myself though) and I think it would have been good to have had some figures like how many people with all the different types have complications and what percentage were well controlled and what were poorly controlled but oh well.

As for the pregnant diabetic I think she doesn't know the meaning of a good start for her baby as soon as she found out she was pregnant her control should have been as tight as possible. It just makes me angry. I think that the overall message was poor because people already think that tax payers money is wasted on diabetics and it will only make people's perceptions of diabetics worse.

I think like everyone else it's made me want to tighten my control even more so than I already have because I'd never want to be in any of those situations, it does bring it home to you once again how serious this condition is x

 

[Northerner]

Emma, I agree with you about the pregnant lady. Having read the experiences and tremendous efforts of so many pregnant ladies on this site, I could not believe what this woman was saying. She is one very lucky lady to have had a healthy baby after a pregnancy like that. The editors clearly picked that as the 'positive' for the whole programme, as the lady had now decided to test a bit more. I wonder how long that will last once the novelty has worn off.

I will watch again because I'm sure some of the things in the programme meant I wasn't paying full attention to other bits. I was watching it mainly from the point of view of thinking what my sister and nieces might be making of it all ( and other non-diabetics whose knowledge may be sketchy).

It seemed to me that the staff came across as resigned to their situation and there was little evidence of any real, hard-hitting home truths and motivational support. What about showing them positive role models? Right from the start, with that 21 yr old, there seemed to be little impact to their efforts to persuade him to stay, 'It would really be better if you stayed'. I haven't seen other programmes in the series, so maybe I would have seen this with different eyes, but I still think that the overall message about diabetes was very narrow and confused.

 

[Becca]

It seemed to me that the staff came across as resigned to their situation and there was little evidence of any real, hard-hitting home truths and motivational support. What about showing them positive role models? Right from the start, with that 21 yr old, there seemed to be little impact to their efforts to persuade him to stay, 'It would really be better if you stayed'. I haven't seen other programmes in the series, so maybe I would have seen this with different eyes, but I still think that the overall message about diabetes was very narrow and confused.

Completely agree about the staff. I found the consultant to be smug and know it all. I said to my husband i hope he doesn't talk to the teenagers like he was talking on the programme, that wouldn't help them at all. Teenagers have a hard enough time being stereotyped, to be told they are doing no good and receiving negative comments is just not going to work. Where are the psychologists as part of the team?

JDRF have made this response: http://www.jdrf.org.uk/news.asp?ite...e+'The+Hospital'&section=23&sectionTitle=News

 

[Northerner]

JDRF's response to 'The Hospital':

http://www.jdrf.org.uk/news.asp?ite...e+'The+Hospital'&section=23&sectionTitle=News

edit: Oops! just noticed you'd posted this Becca!

 

[stangi]

Quite agree about your comment on lack of positive role models.
I'm feeling very guilty now, after recommending my daughter and grandson (12) watch it, and hoping my grandson does not do anything stupid (such as overdosing on insulin which he has done three times in last 6 months when despairing about his diagnosis a year ago) after seeing such a depressing and alarming programme. I was furious when the programme mentioned 'these' patients being likely to die before their parents, which sounded like he meant diabetic patients in general, not just the ones who do not comply with their recommended regime. Anyway I was so incensed I emailed channel 4 - a transcript of which follows: -
"I want to complain about the very negative ways you presented the issues - management of diabetes -dealt with in the programme about the Mayday hospital last night. I realise the point was partly to scare younger patients into following doctors' orders for their own good, and to highlight the waste of missed appointments at diabetes clinic, but it was done in an irresponsible way with no warnings given just before the programme started.
I also felt it gave the impression that ALL diabetics are an expensive strain on the health service and it is their own fault they have the condition.This was demeaning and unnecessary. Onset of Type 1 has nothing to do with lifestyle. It is an auto-immune disease.
All the responsible diabetes charities should be up in arms about the way this subject was handled here. I will be going onto their blogs later today to gauge the general opinions of their members re this programme.
My 12 year-old grandson watched it with his mother. The idea was that he would be encouraged to maintain good control and do regular blood sugar level testing, to avoid having hypo admissions etc during his approaching teens, if he saw what happens when you don't! Well, this programme was way over the top. He had only been diagnosed a year ago and is still quite depressed about his diagnosis. This programme could lead him to believe that whatever he does, he will probably die by 45 even with good control of his condition, which is erroneous. He was also made to feel it was his fault and he was a drain on society, by the way the issues were dealt with in your programme. Put yourself in his position, or any teenage patient who is trying their hardest to comply with medical advice, and re-view this programme please as an observer, not a maker.
There was not enough information given about the fact that a good, active and long life can be lived with good control.Maybe you could have featured one 'good' patient at the clinic, to show the positive side.
And also I felt there was a lack of warnings about the general ethos of the programme, having read the TV guide's small bit, and no warning whatever as the programme showed a toe amputation in gory detail, as if this is the inevitable outcome of the disease. In particular I felt there was a total lack of balance in what was shown... there was NOT a good enough distinction made/stressed between type 1 and type 2 diabetes and the causes. Near the end it was implied the cause was obesity, whereas this is not the case for type 1. No doubt the doctors made this clear, but I would imagine bits were edited out in order to create a more sensationalist documentary.
I feel that in watching this programme, albeit after the 9pm 'watershed' (it IS the school holidays though, when a 12-year-old is still likely to be up) my grandson's state of mind about his condition (type 1) and its prognosis has been damaged. All the work with him in the past year to restore his confidence has been undone, by programme-makers who need to 'sensationalise' everything, show only the patients who don't do as they are told, and to generalise about diabetes. He is a good kid, and trying very hard to keep good control of his condition. I watched this programme at my home too and I came away with the impression that all patients had a reduced lifespan and quality of life, whatever. The older lad on a type of dialysis was an example of what can happen if you do not have good enough control of your diabetes when younger, but it came across as 'this is what any patient can expect' .
I feel this was a sensationalist angle and the whole programme was yet another example of media's current criticism of anyone with a health condition, because of the cost of their treatment to the NHS.
I would welcome your comments and look forward to seeing a more responsible programme in the future, about type 1 diabetes and its successful management, not just the 'failure' stories."

 

[sofaraway]

Tried to type a reply a few times but ended up deleting. I'm not sure how I feel about the program, a bit mixed to be honest. Found soem parts, frustrating and others quite sad.

I don't think that program was meant to be a balanced view so I don't have a problem with the people it focussed on.

I would have liked some answers/solutions but maybe they are lacking at the moment.

 

[sue63]

I didn't watch the programme to be honest as it knew it would upset me and I am glad I didn't...I knew it would focus on the negatives etc

A close friend of mine whose wife is type 1 diabetic and a doctor said to me when J was diagnosed to focus on the fact it can be treated and controlled and there are worse conditions to deal with. His wife is healthy, they have a lovely son...no complications and she has a full and active and busy life as a GP!!

Any illness carries worries and threats and I think teenagers and parents have enough to cope with without being scared witless by the sensational media!