There are an estimated 415,000,000 people with diabetes worldwide, 250,000 of these are located in Ireland. €1.35 million worth of health expenditures is spent on diabetes, that is 10% of the Irish healthcare budget. Diabetes is a lifelong condition caused by lack of or insufficient amounts of insulin. Insulin is a hormone which is made in the pancreas. When the pancreas produces insufficient amounts of insulin sugar cannot get into your muscle or other cells from your blood. When sugar cannot get into the cells and builds up in the bloodstream (Diabetes Ireland, 2016).
There are two kinds of diabetes:
Type 1 Diabetes: Occurs in childhood or early adult life, this requires treatment with insulin injections.
Type 2 Diabetes: Usually develops at a slower rate in adulthood and is progressive. It can sometimes be treated in isolation through diet and exercise however, it often requires antidiabetic medication and/or insulin injections.
Some of the complications of poorly managed diabetes are:
- Blindness
- Tooth loss
- Nerve damage
- Heart attack
- Kidney disease
- Limb amputation
List of some of the specific care services offered to The Care Team’s clients with Diabetes:
- Blood glucose monitoring
- Ketone monitoring
- Medication management – insulin administration
- Diabetic education
- Nutrition care
- Mobility care
- Skin monitoring
- Carers are trained in how to recognise hyper/hypoglycaemic events