At Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, there are a number of Diabetes Dietitians that provide specialist support to individuals with type 1 diabetes across Yorkshire. Members of the team have undertaken specialist educator training to deliver the international type 1 diabetes course (DAFNE) at Leeds Teaching Hospitals.

DAFNE stands for Dose Adjustment for Normal Eating, which is a dedicated course for individuals with type 1 diabetes, which aims to give participants the skills and confidence to self-manage their diabetes and improve their quality of life. The team delivers between 5 – 10 courses per year, which runs for a full week, with small groups of about 8 people.

During these courses, participants often take part in physically weighing and measuring carbohydrate foods, to help them work out the carbohydrate content of their meals and snacks, to then match their mealtime insulin safely. After the pandemic, the face-to-face courses resumed but it was quickly highlighted by the team that the resources for the course were no longer fit for purpose and would need replacing to continue to deliver a high-quality course.

Thanks to donations, Leeds Hospitals Charity have provided funding for the team to replace and refresh the resources needed for this course. Mandy Stock, a Diabetes Specialist Dietitian at Leeds Teaching Hospitals, spoke to us about the importance of having these good quality items.

“I have been delivering DAFNE for over 10 years and the impact of providing a safe environment for participants to learn new skills cannot be underestimated. The benefit of coming together with other people who know what it is like to live with type 1 diabetes and make those decisions on insulin doses multiple times a day is very powerful indeed.

Participants have the opportunity to practise their carbohydrate counting and insulin dose adjustment skills with real foods in a safe environment. These are skills participants can then take into their everyday lives and continue to practise.

As a team, we are so grateful for this funding as it has enabled us to continue running this integral course for our patients, giving them real life and hands on experience to help develop their skills and live a better quality of life.”

Rik Deakin, a previous participant of the DAFNE course told us about his experience:

“I was diagnosed around eight years ago, and I found the course really helpful. The staff were excellent and so supportive, and I really enjoyed learning from them. It was a huge benefit being able to weigh and measure real foods that I would use in my everyday life. I had been carb counting for serveral years before I attended the course, but it was useful to be able to estimate and weigh out lots of different kinds of foods. I’ve been using the skills I learned during the week to improve carb counting every day.

Overall, I found the course really valuable, and it’s even made me rethink a few things, and I now have a much better plan for my sick day rules. I have even stayed in contact with some of the people I met on the course!”