Diabetes and Patient Peer Support Groups in Gloucestershire

In parts of Gloucestershire one in 10 adults will have Type 2 diabetes. We want to reach out to more people at a local level to:

• Champion awareness of diabetes, including the prevention of Type 2 diabetes
• Help inform and improve understanding of what diabetes is by becoming a voice for diabetes in a local community
• Inform people of the support available to help them live a healthier lifestyle (including mental wellbeing) and/or seek professional support

The aims of the project are to:

1. Use a community strengths based approach to reach out to individuals, carers and community groups in those areas of Gloucestershire (Gloucester City and the Forest of Dean) with the highest prevalence of diabetes, greatest deprivation and poorest outcomes for diabetes care to provide emotional and practical support, facilitate discussions around prevention and self-management, improve public health awareness, reduce isolation and health inequalities and foster a sense of community resilience
2. Create and support a non –professional role for a person(s) with lived experience of diabetes (Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes) to reach out and engage with people with diabetes in community settings to enable co-production of services alongside healthcare professionals in order to support an integrated model of care.
3. Through targeted engagement with members of the public, to identify any perceived barriers to current service provision regarding diabetes care to ensure services respond accordingly to meet local need.
4. To capture a list of those interested in providing peer support to others with diabetes on a voluntary basis.
5. To assess what type of support people prefer and what influences whether or not they engage in peer support. Identify how people can be encouraged to offer peer support.
6. Facilitate signposting and improving access to services and identifying vulnerable groups.

NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commission Group and Gloucester City Council

Gloucester Community Building Collective is an initiative born out of a successful collaboration between Gloucester City Council, Gloucestershire Police and the Barnwood Trust. Following a two year ‘test and learn’ project, the partners felt they had a strong proof of concept and agreed to create an independent organisation that could proliferate community driven change across the city.

We were approached by Gloucestershire Clinical Commissioning Group (NHS GCCG) to take a community building approach to Diabetes prevention, specifically Type 2 Diabetes.

The community building approach that I will be using is called Positive deviance and involves finding and having conversations with people who are managing their health without medical interventions, even though they have access to the same resources.

I will need to dig deeper into why and how they are succeeding to manage their (pre) diabetes, for example where do they get good advice from, what are the uncommon or different behaviours that they are using and then support them to find ways of sharing their stories so that others can learn from their success.

I will also have conversations with some of the service providers as to the barriers of why people are not engaging and share those findings with the CCG so that the system can respond more effectively to enable engagement.

The project takes a place-based community building approach. This starts with Community Builders talking to residents about what they love about their neighbourhoods and the change they want to see. Community Builders then help those residents identify the strengths and assets in their community that can be used to make their vision a reality. As people act on the things that are important to them, they connect with neighbours, become more active and make new friends.

As this is a ‘test and learn’ initiative, there will be a strong focus on learning outcomes.

Outcomes include:

• Summary report that demonstrates how social connections contribute to health and wellbeing and help buffer against disease. Consider the impact a community building approach might have on other aspects of prevention.
• Identifying the perceived barriers to people in the community not engaging in professional support (including structured education) around diabetes. Exploration of how the system could respond more effectively to these perceived changes.
• Identify how naturally occurring support groups for diabetes emerge and identify the factors that enable them to be sustained.
• To deliver a programme of awareness raising/training about Type 2 Diabetes and existing resources/support to self-manage the condition to the whole team of community builders.

This project involves placing a Community Builder in Kingsholm for 3 days a week, starting in July Funding for this initiative is from NHS England for 1 year, with a possible extension.

You can find more information about Gloucester Community Building Collective here: www.gloscommunitybuilding.co.uk

NHS Gloucestershire Clinical Commission Group and Forest of Dean District Council

Forest of Dean area

The Forest of Dean District Council (FODDC) has adopted a strengths based approach to working with the community. This approach looks for ways to encourage and enable communities to develop and sustain projects unique to them and their residents. It is led by the community and the role of the council is to support the communities, connecting like-minded people or projects across the district so that they can develop together and support each other.

Our plan and vision for this work

We are still in the process of recruiting for this role but it is hoped that the role will develop so that the community has a voice and a method to connect to services that are being commissioned and designed in the Forest. By co-producing services the community will be more likely to engage with the care offered in a tailored way to that community and understand the pathways to getting help or reducing the risk of diabetes.

The Forest of Dean District Council has taken a similar approach to a project – Strengthening Local Communities where a decrease in relying on care services was noted.

You may also be interested in:

• Diabetes Prevention Project Update

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