The Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service Diabetes Service multidisciplinary team are helping more patients manage their condition closer to home.
People living with diabetes across the Wide Bay are set to benefit from more coordinated specialist care following the launch of a dedicated Diabetes Service at Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service.
In a region where diabetes related hospital admissions are higher than Queensland Health’s state average, the new multidisciplinary service is designed to improve health outcomes, reduce diabetes-related complications and help more patients manage their condition closer to home.
With more than 300 Australians diagnosed with diabetes every day, that's one person every five minutes, the need for accessible, high-quality diabetes care continues to grow.
Operational Director Integrated Services Trudie Diserens said she was excited about this positive change which resulted from a combination of factors.
“Statewide data-driven quality improvement projects looked at the need across Queensland and clearly identified Wide Bay,” she said.
“This tells us that despite the fantastic services delivered by community diabetes educators through GP referrals, there’s still work to be done in caring for patients with diabetes to reduce the impact.
“While our Integrated Care department already had some staff supporting people with diabetes, demand was outstripping capacity.
“The benefits of uplifting and strategically realigning services were clear to enable clinical leadership, well-coordinated local services, and a highly skilled and sustainable workforce.”
Trudie explained key stakeholders were engaged in the development of the service transformation from the start which ensured Multidisciplinary Diabetes Workforce Uplift funding was used in the most meaningful way.
“Patient care was at the core of decisions, and a formal change process was undertaken followed by recruitment of new staff,” she said.
The new multi-disciplinary team includes diabetes educators, clinical nurses, dietitians, clinical assistants, and administrative staff working across Bundaberg and the Fraser Coast.
Team Leader Pia Troiani, who is also a dietitian and diabetes educator, said the team has a common vision to deliver excellence in care.
“There are so many opportunities, and we’re excited to demonstrate the numerous patient related benefits that come with this kind of investment,” she said.
“People with diabetes often need support from a range of health professionals. By bringing those experts together, we’re making it easier for patients to access coordinated care that helps prevent complications and supports them to stay well.
“We’re all like-minded people with a passion for delivering high-quality and person-centred care which is fundamentally guiding our change process.
“There are constantly new research, treatments, technologies and systems available to learn regarding diabetes care and we are committed to keeping pace while optimising the service.
“We see both inpatients and outpatients and are working through processes to ensure they’re effective and efficient.”
Patients can access the service through referral from their public hospital specialist. People are also encouraged to continue working with their GP and community diabetes educator as part of their ongoing diabetes care.
Dieticians form part of the Diabetes Service team providing support to patients.