Diabetes Service

The Diabetes Centre is based at St Mary’s Hospital. It is a specialist resource centre offering advice and care for people who have diabetes and the Healthcare Professionals who look after them.

Routine diabetes care, including periodic assessment of complications and cardiovascular risk assessment (previously known as annual review), has been devolved to primary care.  This is aided by the mobile retinal screening programme and practice-based podiatry service provision.

The following services are provided at St. Mary's Hospital:

• Diabetes clinics for patients requiring specialist management  (follow up by doctors and diabetes specialist nurses, at frequency of 3 – 6 months on average)
• Periodic assessment of diabetic complications
• Rapid access and drop in service (run by diabetes specialist nurses)
• Telephone and e-mail advice to patients and professionals
• Diagnosis and management of patients who have complications
• Care of complex patients with multiple pathologies
• Specialist foot service – with one of the lowest amputation rates in the country.
• Assessment of poorly controlled patients who require new therapies and the audit of their use
• Patient education programme X-PERT insulin programme for people with Type 1 diabetes and audit of this programme.
• Diabetes Dietetic service.
• Home blood glucose monitoring clinics (new starts and checks)
• Transitional adolescent clinic – to support young people transferring to the adult service
• Insulin Pump therapy service
• Care of women with diabetes during pregnancies and pre-pregnancy counseling in joint antenatal clinics
• Provision of education updates in diabetes care for Healthcare Professionals working in the community and hospital settings
• Regular review of people with diabetes followed up by appropriate action
• The Hospital Diabetes Team (which includes specialist nursing advice) will accept where appropriate both, Type I patients and Type II patients (except for those admitted to hospital under care of other consultants) and manage within agreed guidelines
• Endocrine service – including clinics plus dynamic tests 

Diabetes Centre opening hours are from 8.30 to 4.30 Monday to Friday excluding bank holidays. Direct telephone number is 534248.

Referral to the Diabetes Centre is via:

• GP. Written referrals are requested either through Choose and Book or direct and urgent   referrals are faxed or telephoned through to the Diabetes Centre 
• Consultant from other specialty (including A & E) via in-patient referral forms.
• Nursing referral via in-patient referral forms

If you would like to know more about the signs and symptoms of diabetes please click on the Diabetes UK link where you can also access a test to see if you are at risk of developing diabetes.