Your say / Health
Day in the life of diabetes specialist nurse
To commemorate International Nurses Day, we hear from specialist diabetes nurse Nicki Mead from Bristol Community Health
I’m one of three diabetes specialist nurses working for Bristol Community Health, a not-for-profit social enterprise providing NHS community health services across the city. We work with patients and other healthcare professionals to support people with diabetes to effectively manage their condition.
It’s hard to describe a normal day – because every day is completely different! That’s one of the things I like most about my job – no two days are the same.
Sadly, around six per cent of people in the UK have diabetes, and 10 per cent of the NHS budget is spent on managing it. This means that as a team, we’re kept very busy.
Typically, we start the day at 8.30am and after a quick team meeting, respond to email and telephone queries for advice from patients and healthcare professionals.
Later in the day, we lead one of our patient educational courses. These help people to learn more about diabetes and the life skills they need to self-manage.
Once a month we run clinics around the city, including a drop in clinic for patients in Easton. Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) communities in Bristol experience high levels of diabetes, so it’s important that our service is accessible as possible to people whose first language isn’t English – our HealthLinks translators help us with this.
We carry a small caseload of very complex patients, so often in the early part of the afternoon we make home visits to see patients. Quite often these visits involve caring for older people with diabetes with multiple other conditions, for example dementia, or leg ulcers.
A few adjustments to someone’s care plan can help them remain at home and independent for as long as possible. By treating people in their own homes, community-based nurses also help to alleviate the pressure on our city’s busy hospitals.
My final visit of the day is to a GP practice, where I run a training session for healthcare professionals on diabetes management . It’s important that we disseminate our knowledge and expertise to other professionals so that everyone is empowered to give patients the best possible care.
The UK has a shortage of nurses, which is a shame because in my view being a nurse is an absolute privilege. It’s an honour to give compassionate care, and to support people to make changes which will improve their quality of life. That, ultimately, is the reason I nurse – I know I’m making a real difference and it feels great.
For information and videos on diabetes, visit www.briscomhealth.org.uk.