Diabetes clinics

Diabetes clinics give you the chance to meet medical experts who can check that you're as healthy as possible and give you highly specialised advice on how to look after your diabetes.

At a diabetes clinic, you'll see different members of staff who have specialised and have years of experience looking after people with diabetes. It's unlikely that you're GP or practice nurse who deal with general healthcare will have this level of knowledge about diabetes.

How will the diabetes clinic staff help me?

Clinic staff check how your diabetes is being managed, help you with any difficulties, and pre-empt any possible future health problems. They'll also help you learn how to look after your diabetes and anything else you might need to know about, like new technology.

Although you know what your blood sugar test results are every day, if you're having a bad patch, it can be hard to figure out why on your own. Clinic staff will help you understand why this is happening and what your body is doing over a longer period of time. 

Make sure you ask your diabetes team if you don't understand anything such as new test results.

How often do I go?

This depends on what services are set up in your area and how old you are. But you should be seeing your diabetes at least once a year.  You'll also have one big checkup a year to make sure you're okay.