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The challenge:

There are around 10,500 people in Bexley with diabetes. Bexley Care Trust needed to increase the number of people newly diagnosed with diabetes undertaking a structured patient education (SPE) programme. In 2008/9 just 80 people completed the X-Pert programme.

The aim:

The aim of the project was to establish a structured patient education (SPE) programme that 50 percent of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes would attend in the first year following diagnosis. In addition, Bexley wanted to enable 15 percent of all other people with type 2 diabetes to complete the SPE.

What did they do?

Bexley Care Trust appointed a new Diabetes Programme Manager. Having identified that the lack of a SPE programme was as key area for improvement, the diabetes programme set up a project to increase uptake of the X-Pert programme which started in January 2010. With the support of other local healthcare professionals, X-Pert was promoted to GPs and directly to patients. The offer was a taster session, followed by the full course if the patient wished to continue.

Recognising the importance of ease of access, sessions were set up at a range of different venues in the area, on a number of different days and times, including evenings and weekends. The sessions were run by a wide range of people including those from the local Diabetes UK branch, local community groups and patients who had already completed the programme.

What Changed?

Since February 2010, the average number of people attending the courses has been 100 a month. The conversion rate from ‘taster’ to the remaining course was 80 percent, much higher than expected. The programme achieved its target of reaching 50 percent of people with Type 2 diabetes who are in the first year of diagnosis. The first set of outcomes from the February 2010 X-Pert courses (comparing the data with national data) is shown below.