Is the NHS caring enough? Or is the Best Care Provided Closer to Home?

Tonight on the morning, afternoon and evening news- the program that I filmed for BBC Wales was aired. The program was shown in line with a report released today on the quality care for chronic illnesses. Especially as to whether the health service is doing enough to care for people with conditions such as diabetes. As I mentioned in my previous blog my answer to this question was balanced. But thankfully there’s another support network available and they’re a lot closer to home.

This morning I woke up with a text message from a friend saying that they’d seen me on the news. It meant a lot that they’d taken the time to get in contact, as this friend was there at the athletics track the day I collapsed from a severe hypo. Their help and support through the difficult time meant a lot. Getting into work later today, a colleague mentioned that they’d seen the clip and then went on to tell me about the fact that they’d grown up with siblings with the condition of diabetes. A fact I’d probably never have known had we not had the program as a topic to talk about.

My Facebook friends were really supportive too and it got us all talking about diabetes on social media platforms too. Which made me realise that the health services might be letting us down on varying levels, regarding the psychological management of our diabetes. But the people living with the condition – well we’re a community. We’re not alone because as soon as we get talking about the condition, you’ve got someone who instantly understands. I count myself very lucky to have these people around to support me and in turn allowing me to support them.

So this is a blog to say thank you to the Type 0’s as I’ve sometimes heard them called. The term that refers to the people without diabetes, but that live a life as if they do. They still worry about insulin, hypos and blood sugars. They might not do our injections but they still feel the pain of it. But when we feel like we can’t do another blood test, their the ones encouraging us to do just one more.­ It's important to remember that care comes in many forms and some might say it's the best care available!