NHS Western Isles launches world’s first ‘Obligate Network’ for Diabetes

The world’s first Diabetes Obligate Network has been launched by NHS Western Isles, in partnership with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.

The ‘Obligate Network’ between the two Health Boards is designed to support the future sustainability of local services and to provide improved access to specialist services for people who live in the Western Isles. The network will create solutions for the joint planning and delivery of the services and creates opportunities for sharing expertise, education, peer support and review, as well as clinical supervision, clinical governance and ‘single team’ working across traditional health board boundaries.

“Support and enthusiasm”

This development is not designed to replace, but to build upon existing diabetes services. It removes the risk of operating with single-handed practitioners and creates the opportunity for quality improvements in the patient experience. The new services will provide clinical management for diabetes patients with the most complex needs; those with multiple co-morbidity, children and young people and pregnant women.

Phil Tilley, Deputy Head of Planning and Development, said: “This project will create considerable opportunities for future developments in diabetes care in the Western Isles. It substantially improves the security of provision, ensuring that the inherent risks of operating services with single-handed practitioners are removed, and provides a platform for collaborative working which only complements the already significant service improvements we have achieved over the years. It has been a real pleasure working on this project; the support and enthusiasm for it from clinicians on all sides has been remarkable.”

“Patient Pathways”

As part of this development, new ‘patient pathways’ and referral routes have been designed. There have also been telehealth developments to further support the partnership. Technological advancements will mean that the two Health Boards will be able to instantly share patient records, and GP practice files will be backfilled automatically. The use of teleconference for clinical appointments has been trialled successfully and will be used as a standard vehicle for patients’ clinical appointments.

Adult diabetes services in the Western Isles will now link with adult services in Glasgow through Consultant Diabetologists, Dr Andy Gallagher and Dr John Hinnie and with the Diabetes Nurse Specialists, Dietician and Podiatrists of the South Glasgow Diabetes team. For children and young people, the link will be through Dr Ken Robertson, Consultant Diabetologist and the specialist team at the Royal Hospital for Children (Yorkhill). Each consultant will hold four face-to-face clinics in the Western Isles and four ‘virtual clinics’ via videoconference each year. The agreement also provides for out-of-hours contact for advice on the management of diabetes emergencies.

Gordon Jamieson

Chief Executive, Gordon Jamieson said: “This development, taken from concept to implementation, is a credit to NHS Western Isles. It provides a process which will inform the redesign of other services where partnerships in care would be an advantage. Already it is being considered as a model in other clinical services. Congratulations must go to all who have put much hard work into creating a brand new way of working and delivering services which will only be to the benefit of people in the Western Isles.”

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