Derbyshire Community Health Services – NHS Foundation Trust
Flo Helps Me Take Control of My Diabetes
After being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes at the age of ten Naomi has struggled to keep her condition under control throughout her teenage years. It can be very challenging to manage a condition at this age as work and socializing take priority.
“I had real trouble managing my diabetes, I’m a little bit embarrassed to say, I also had Diabetic Bulimia. I was worried about taking my insulin because I thought that it would make me put on weight.”
Naomi is now at the age of 20 with a busy social life and full-time job. She has managed to transform her diabetes after she was introduced to Flo by Michelle Denyer, Lead Specialist Community Diabetes Nurse, in 2014 and was one of the first patients in Derbyshire to try it.
First of all Naomi was involved in a lot of trial and error with Flo and initially opted out of the service. However later on, she requested to be put back on the system and Flo had a huge impact in her life.
I’m thrilled at the difference it has made to my life. Taking my background medication was not a problem but the insulin I would leave, it became normal not to do my insulin so I needed to get into a new routine which Flo has helped me do.”
Flo gives Naomi the independence she needs and has helped her to self-manage her condition. She now gets three text messages from Flo to remind her to take her insulin, and helps her to keep track of her medication.
In November 2011 Naomi’s HbA1c was 16.4%, in July 2015 it had reduced to 13.2% and in November 2015 had been reduced further to 8.6%. This is a huge reduction and a massive achievement for Naomi.
“I’m very proud of myself, to think I would be down to my last dose of insulin before I would ask for more, I’m so organized and focused that I rarely forget to order my medication now. Flo has made such a big difference to my life. I would definitely recommend it to everyone, not just for diabetes, I would recommend Flo to help people that take any kind of medication it would be excellent for contraception – it’s done the world of good for me.”
Naomi has shown how Flo can help patients to self-manage their conditions and take control of their own healthcare, resulting in an improvement in patients’ overall quality of life.
For more information contact michelle.denyer@nhs.net
