Poster 19: Increasing access to Diabetes Structured Education (DSE) with digitally-delivered care

Barking and Dagenham has an ethnically diverse, relatively young  population with a higher than UK average Diabetes prevalence. In 2017/18 as many as 73% were offered DSE, but only 10.9% attended the predominantly face to face offer. Digitally-enabled programmes have the potential to improve accessibility to culturally relevant, convenient and engaging education. Here, we assess weight loss, uptake and retention of a DSE programme for adults living with type 2 diabetes in this community.

Materials and methods: Data from adults with type 2 diabetes following a 12 week digitally-enabled DSE programme were collected and analysed to determine weight loss and engagement. All patients had access to a smartphone app for digital learning materials and to monitor their intake, activity and clinical changes. Remote coach support was provided.

Results: 99% of referrals (n=1384) were accepted to the programme with 72% attending. 64% of starters completed the programme. Average weight loss at 12 weeks was 2.94kg (3.22%; n=199). There was an average increase in diabetes self-management confidence from 6/10 at baseline to 8/10 at 12 weeks. 51% of attendees were male, 83% of participants were of working age and 72% of other ethnic origins, demonstrating greater access in those who are usually under-represented at traditional face to face DSE.

Conclusion: A fully remote digitally-enabled type 2 DSE and behaviour change programme is clinically effective, accessible and engaging and enables an increase in confidence in self-management of those harder to reach groups living with type 2 diabetes.