Kieron Brennan, in his role of Chair, has been active with the Tunbridge Wells, Tonbridge and Sevenoaks Diabetes UK Group. It is the Group's aim to help and support people in the area living with diabetes. They do this primarily though Group meetings whose express purpose is to provide a safe, social forum to discuss diabetes and its effects. Here he provides an update of the most recent meeting.
Kieron Brennan, Local Group Chair, Dr Andrew Roxburgh, Dr Robert Bailey and Diabetes Specialist Nurse Debbie Burke
"At our recent meeting, at the Angel Centre in Tonbridge, we were joined by an expert and well qualified panel of local front line health professionals who addressed a wide range of questions. We welcomed Dr Andrew Roxburgh from the Amherst Medical practice in Sevenoaks, the Lead Diabetes GP for the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG). He was joined by Dr Robert Bailey, the Diabetes Clinical GP Lead, and Debbie Burke, the Diabetes Specialist Nurse, for Warders medical practice, Tonbridge. The wide ranging discussion included:
- understanding the disease and how it affects the body
- pros and cons of different diabetic medications
- dealing with hypos and managing complications
- what to do when newly diagnosed (the Diabetes UK website, www.diabetes.org.uk, provides really helpful advice on this)
- the changing organisation of diabetes care within the CCG, of particular interest to those relying on more specialist care
- diet and nutrition, attracting lively discussion with quite different understanding of what is healthy for diabetics.
All in all, it was an interesting, energetic and well attended meeting. It was excellent to see so many people attending the group for the first time".
If you would like to know more, contact Kieron Brennan, Director of All About Home Care and Chair of the local Diabetes UK Group, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Further information about living with the condition is available at www.diabetes.org.uk