Experienced nurse consultant takes centre stage in latest Diabetes Times podcast

Nurse consultant Debbie Hicks talks about sensor technology, her biggest career achievements and how she ventured into the world of diabetes during the third episode of Talking Diabetes.

During the instalment, Debbie also speaks about Trend Diabetes – a national nursing organisation which she co-chairs alongside independent nurse consultant June James.

When forming the group, Debbie said: “We need to be trend setters. We need to put ourselves up as a proactive group and to stand up for nurse because nurses are the biggest group who care for people with diabetes.”

The nurse consultant has type 1 diabetes herself and is proud of how far diabetes care has evolved throughout the years due to technological advancements.

She said: “I see sensor technology as a huge leap forward for the management of diabetes. We’ve got the real-time continuous glucose monitoring and the intermittent which is the flash glucose monitoring.

“This technology is cost-effective and actually gives us positive outcomes for people with diabetes.”

Debbie added: “The next kit we need to look at is the hybrid closed loop systems which again have been researched over the last four years and are now coming into their own.

“For once in my 50 years of having diabetes, I see the ethos of diabetes care changing so that they are now looking at the future lives of people with diabetes not what to do to help them when things have gone wrong. For me that is a huge breakthrough.”

The Talking Diabetes series features leading healthcare professionals and academics as they share their expertise and thoughts on the hot topics from the world of diabetes.

To listen to the latest episode, click here.