University Hospitals Birmingham

The diabetes team along with the renal and diabetes wards made a massive effort for the hypo awareness campaign to raise awareness of the signs, symptoms and treatment of hypoglycaemia for diabetes patients. They all made a joint effort to educate patients and staff on the prevention, recognition and treatment of hypoglycaemia. The visual aids created on the wards were really eye catching and grabbed the attention of all staff and patient groups, allowing hypo awareness week to take off. These efforts gave a sense that the wards take diabetes seriously and patients gave very good feedback. The diabetes boards on the wards are designed to educate staff throughout the year on how to recognise, treat and prevent hypoglycaemia within the trust. Nursing students completing their placements embraced the opportunity to enhance their knowledge around this complex condition. They have commended the efforts of all teams involved for engaging with national campaigns. Everyone involved wore hypo awareness t-shirts to initiate conversations with relatives and family to offer advice or support on the signs and symptoms to look out for when loved ones may be having a hypo. The diabetes team had a hypo awareness stand in the education centre all week, attracting all staff groups as well as visitors. They had interactive games and quizzes, which made learning fun for everyone. One of the games was pinning pictures of hypo treatments under the headings of ‘correct’ and ‘incorrect’.  The diabetes team gave away their ‘bite-size’ pocket cards as ‘I am hypo aware goody-bags’ as prizes to nurses and health-care assistants. Their Chief Nurse and deputy chief nurse participated in the activities, which was a huge boost for the profile of Hypo Awareness Week.