Diabetes event gets third year go ahead

An event designed to provide increase healthcare professionals’ knowledge about advising people with type 1 diabetes to exercise safely is returning for its third year.

The Exercise for Type One Diabetes (EXTOD) conference will take place in London on Thursday, May 19.

Robert Andrews who is an associate professor for diabetes at the University of Exeter and also one of the event organisers, said: “We were getting messages from patients who told us they were being given the wrong advice about how to manage their diabetes.

“They were also being discouraged from exercising because healthcare professionals felt uncomfortable about them being active.

 There’s also clear evidence that people who exercise regularly can reduce the amount of insulin they need to take

“So we did a survey and found that they didn’t know very much so we were very keen to address that gap and created this event to try to educate healthcare professionals that exercise and managing the condition is possible.”

Insulin reduction

Originally the first conference in 2014 was supposed to be a one off, but organisers were overwhelmed by interest.

This year a total of 200 delegates will be able to attend the event at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre.

Professor Andrews said: “We already know that exercise is good for protecting against cancer and for helping people with mental health issues, but there’s also clear evidence that people who exercise regularly can reduce the amount of insulin they need to take.”

This year’s event will combine expert speakers, lectures and workshops. There will also be a separate work stream for adult and paediatrics teams.

To find out more about the conference or to book a place, click here.