A record number of UK hospitals and trusts have signed up to take part in the annual diabetes campaign Hypo Awareness Week.
A total of 536 venues – mainly hospitals – are participating in the seven-day drive that kicked off on Monday 24 September. This is up from 343 last year.
Hypo Awareness Weekstrives to raise awareness of hypoglycemia in the UK by educating healthcare professionals about the short-term complications of diabetes.
Hypoglycemia can be dangerous and if not treated, can lead to unconsciousness and sometimes even coma. It develops when the blood glucose levels of a person with diabetes drop too low.
In 2015, Diabetes.co.uk launched the Hypo Awareness Program to help people improve their understanding of hypoglycemia. After six months users on average experience 63% fewer episodes of severe hypoglycemia.
Healthcare teams are holding activities across the week to educate healthcare professionals and patients about how people with diabetes can avoid low blood sugar when admitted to hospital.
Almost one in five (18%) people with diabetes experience a hypo during their stay in hospital, according to the most recent National Diabetes Inpatient Audit (NaDIA).
The findings also showed that most of the recorded hypos seemed to happen between 5:00am and 8:59am, when inpatients are sleeping.
The charity Diabetes UK found in 2017 that there were 58,000 people with diabetes in hospital who experienced a severe hypo.
Organised by Orange Juice Communications and funded by Sanofi, those sites that sign up for the Hypo Awareness Week campaign have received resource packs and materials to help with roll-out including Hypo Awareness Week t-shirts, pens, posters and badges.
