This year’s conference was well attended and many attendees used the opportunity to network with others living with diabetes, sharing stories, online resources and forums, and arranging to meet up. For those who were unable to attend, here’s a brief summary of what took place.

Please click here to find out more about the presentations at this year’s conference

Tetris Pharma has announced that people living with diabetes in the UK now have access to Ogluo^® (glucagon Pre-Filled Pen). This is the first ready-to-use, pre-mixed and pre-measured liquid glucagon injection to treat severe hypoglycaemia in adults, adolescents, and children aged two years and over.

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An article in The New York Times on December 3rd made headlines that are especially important for people living with Type 1 diabetes. It announced that Brian Shelton from Ohio had been cured of Type 1 diabetes. Curing Type 1 requires a renewable source of beta cells that can be produced in the laboratory. Once placed into the body, they need to restore insulin production and automatically regulate blood-glucose levels.

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IDDT’s Chief Executive, Martin Hirst, has written an article for this week’s Diabetes Times, regarding the level of misleading information and terminology regarding diabetes, freely available on the internet.

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This was a headline in November 2021 along with the statement that “Misdiagnosed Type 1 diabetes patients could be freed from the need to take insulin after a new test is rolled out.”

Scotland will become the first country to offer the C-peptide blood test to all patients who have had a Type 1 diagnosis for at least three years. The test became available from 1st November 2021 in Scotland.

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Novo Nordisk has launched the PenCycle scheme to enable people to recycle their pre-filled FlexPen and FlexTouch devices by returning them to participating pharmacies or through pre-paid Royal Mail boxes which hold up to 12 used pens (with the needles removed).

This system, called PenCycle, started on 1st November 2021 and is being run in partnership with Alliance Healthcare, Lloyds Pharmacy, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) and Royal Mail. It will be piloted in 13 clinical commissioning groups in Greater Manchester and Leicestershire and Rutland and in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board, ahead of a planned national rollout in 2022. The scheme is thought to be the first of its kind in the UK.

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The DVLA has updated the guidance on glucose testing prior to driving. This now permits the use of interstitial glucose readings eg using Flash Glucose Scanning (FreeStyle Libre) and Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) systems for Group 1 drivers only. However, finger-prick tests are still required (even for Group 1 drivers) under certain circumstances.

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By Martin Hirst
CEO, InDependent Diabetes Trust

Why should we talk about diabetes and tattoos?

Tattoos are a cultural phenomenon that exist in most parts of the world. They can be used to signify things like social status or family history as in Polynesian culture or as a form of art often seen, for example, in European culture. Tattoos tend to divide people into three groups, people who can’t bare them, people who love them and those who are “tattoo-curious”. Whichever group you belong to, tattoos by their very nature are here to stay. There are now over 12 million people in the UK who have been tattooed and not surprisingly some of them have diabetes as well and in this article we look at various aspects of getting tattooed if you have diabetes.

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This final guideline has now been published and can be found by visiting the NICE website: https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/NG17

This update is focused on the long-acting insulin recommendations only. Further updates will be published in due course.

The recommendations from this guideline have been included in the NICE Pathway on Type 1 diabetes in adults, which brings together everything we have said on Type 1 diabetes in adults: diagnosis and management (update) in an interactive flowchart. There is brief information about the guideline for people using services, carers and the public at ‘Information for the public’.

Having diabetes does not automatically mean that you fit into the clinically vulnerable category, this only applies to people who received a letter during lockdown telling them they are in this group or if they have been told by their GP.

Expert doctors have identified specific medical conditions that, based on what is known about the virus so far, place someone at greatest risk of severe illness from COVID-19. The following people are included but disease severity, history or treatment levels will also affect who is in the group.

• People with specific cancers:
• people with cancer who are undergoing active chemotherapy
• people with lung cancer who are undergoing radical radiotherapy
• people with cancers of the blood or bone marrow such as leukaemia, lymphoma or myeloma who are at any stage of treatment
• people having immunotherapy or other continuing antibody treatments for cancer
• people having other targeted cancer treatments which can affect the immune system, such as protein kinase inhibitors or PARP inhibitors
• people who have had bone marrow or stem cell transplants in the last 6 months, or who are still taking immunosuppression drugs.
• People with severe respiratory conditions including all cystic fibrosis, severe asthma and severe chronic obstructive pulmonary (COPD).
• People with rare diseases and inborn errors of metabolism that significantly increase the risk of infections (such as severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID), homozygous sickle cell).
• People on immunosuppression therapies sufficient to significantly increase risk of infection.
• Women who are pregnant with significant heart disease, congenital or acquired.
• you do not have any of the conditions that makes you clinically extremely vulnerable
• you have not been told by your GP or specialist that you’re clinically extremely vulnerable or received a letter