Shoot Up or Put Up

Tim’s only gone and blagged an interview with top diabetic super-athlete Sir Steve Redgrave for the blog! And you, yes you, can submit your questions to ask him! Click on the forum post below to ask your questions and Tim will use the best ones:

Linky-linky-loo to the forum post

From: Diabetes UK

Children’s Charter petition is a Diabetes UK campaign to get children with diabetes high quality care and support. DUK asks you to sign their  petition to show your support for better emotional and medical care and improved support for children with diabetes.

This dog can’t argue with that and looks forward to seeing whether an Internet petition will add any weight to DUK’s campaign.

See also:

• http://www.diabetes.org.uk/childrenscharter (for the petition itself)
• http://www.diabetes.org.uk/Documents/campaigning/Childrens Charter/Report (for further details of the charter)

From: Evening Times

The family of a six-year-old girl has won the fight for a life-changing diabetes treatment after being told by health chiefs it was too costly to administer.

Health campaigners say Scotland is way behind other countries in its adoption of the pump, despite having one of the highest levels of Type 1 diabetes in the western world. Currently more than 500 people with Type 1 diabetes in Scotland use insulin pumps compared to a possible figure of around 3,000.

This dog thinks it’s a shame that something as simple as getting a pump makes news as it’s so difficult to do. Growl!

Original article: http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/editor-s-picks/rebekah-wins-pump-fight-1.1046368

From: Edinburgh Evening News

HEALTH chiefs are hoping to save £2.5 million by changing the way thousands of diabetes patients monitor their own condition. They want to stop the use of expensive glucose strips for people who can manage their condition through diet and exercise. [...]

Alastair Paisley, Pentlands Conservative councillor who was diagnosed with the condition in 2001, said: “When I first received the kit I used it about twice a week to make sure everything was okay. But as time went on I used it less, to the point where months go by without it. So when I got the letter saying the NHS hoped to save money by taking people off these I wholly agreed.

This dog thinks Alastair Paisley is an idiot. Woof!

Full article: http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/edinburgh/39Needless39-diabetes-tests-may-be.6453398.jp

From: BBC news website

Woof! The NHS is spending too much on diabetes drugs say researchers, who found the medicines account for 7% of the UK prescribing budget.

Shame on you diabetics! Terry’s started a discussion about this over on the forums.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10740224

From: BBC website.

The skeleton has a key role in regulating blood sugar and may be the underlying cause of diabetes in some people, say US researchers. But this only relates to type two stuff, so us type one doggies don’t really care. Woof!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10727169

From: Medtronic

STAR 3 trial clinically validates the Medtronic integrated system

STAR 3 is a multicenter, randomized controlled trial that compared Medtronic’s sensor-augmented insulin pump (an integrated system using an insulin pump, continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) and therapy management software) to multiple daily injections (MDI). The data showed a statistically significant improvement in A1C across the age spectrum (adults, teens, and children) without increasing severe hypoglycemia.

http://www.minimed.com/star3/

From: Junior Diabetes Research Foundation

Last month, Torbay MP Adrian Sanders laid an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons for JDRF.  The text of the motion aimed to raise awareness of type 1 diabetes amongst MPs and welcomed the medical research that JDRF funds in this area.  An Early Day Motion is a way for MPs to draw attention in the House of Commons to an issue that they feel strongly about.

Read about it more fully on the JDRF page here. The full motion reads as follows:

That this House supports the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) in its campaign to increase awareness and understanding about type 1 diabetes; notes that type 1 and type 2 diabetes are very separate and distinct conditions; acknowledges that type 1 diabetes is a chronic, life-threatening auto immune condition and is not caused by eating sugary food, by being overweight or by lifestyle choices; further notes with concern that type 1 is a leading cause of kidney failure, adult blindness, stroke, heart attacks and nerve damage and that incidence of the condition is increasing by four per cent. year on year; further notes that approximately five per cent. Of the entire NHS budget is spent on treating type 1 diabetes; recognises that JDRF is the world’s leading charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research and the only organisation dedicated solely to finding the cure for type 1; and believes that more funding for medical research will lead to the development of better treatments for type 1 diabetes, resulting in fewer complications and hospitalisations, improve cost efficiencies for the NHS budget and lead to a cure.

Source: UK Parliament web site

From: The Scotsman

THE parents of a four-year-old girl who has diabetes have won a battle to have her fitted with a vital insulin pump after they were told they would have to wait three years before one would be available.

http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Parents-win-insulin-pump-battle.6399330.jp

It's me, Neville, the Shoot Up newshound!

Hello! I’m Neville, your all new soaraway Shoot Up’s newshound!

While Tim and Alison are away, I’ve snuck on to the site to tell you that from now on I’ll be contributing to the blog by bringing you snippets of news and information about diabetes and other related stuff that I’ve sniffed out from around the web. My articles won’t be as long as the boring opinion pieces Tim and Alison do – think more pithy and to the point. If you’re not interested in the outside world you can always just filter me out of your news feeds – but that might make me whimper pitifully and you wouldn’t want that. Would you?

Anyway, keep an eye on the blog for my new posts and do let me know if you see anything of interest to the pancreatic masses by emailing me at neville@shootuporputup.co.uk. Woof!