- We are delighted to announce that Marina Sarkis returned to the Diabetes and Endocrine Network Manager role on 19 April after a period of parental leave. Marina will return three days a week until December 2021, and the recruitment process is underway for the job-sharing arrangement until the end of the year.
- We also wish to acknowledge the leadership of Natalie Richards and Jackie Caton who recently shared the Network Manager role. Under their guidance we have continued to support the Diabetes and Endocrine COVID-19 Community of Practice and continue to develop a range of projects including the electronic medical record (eMR) consensus work.
- March saw the go live of the new statewide Diabetes Related Foot Care HealthPathway. This was a project led by ACI, supported by the Ministry of Health, and was a collaboration between NSW HealthPathways Sydney team, high risk foot service clinicians and the Diabetes and Endocrine Network. The HealthPathway provides guidance to primary health staff to better support and manage the escalation of rapid early care for people diagnosed with active foot disease and/or diabetes-related foot disease and for those at high risk of complications.
- Training has now been offered to the NSW high risk foot workforce. The first phase of training started on 26 April 2021 with 25 participants. Another two phases are planned over the next six months. The training is interactive and centres around three driving principles; what do we need to know, who do we need to be and how do we transform behaviours and systems in order to be culturally safe and responsive in meeting the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The aim is to improve access to mainstream high risk foot services for Aboriginal people, assist in the reduction of hospitalisations for diabetes-related foot disease and other diabetes complications and enhance both individual and community awareness of diabetes and diabetic footcare.
Find out more and contact the Diabetes and Endocrine Network.