Diabetic management system tackles patient non-compliance

Patient compliance has always been a problem for GPs in managing diabetes, but a new mobile phone-based system from e-San may make this a thing of the past.

The Think Positive Diabetes System (or t+ diabetes for short), sends blood-sugar data from the patient’s mobile phone to a central server, while the patient inputs information on carbohydrate intake and exercise. Specialist preloaded software turns this information into a full-colour graphical display, which is returned immediately to the patient. This means not only does the patient get valuable information for self-monitoring — in seconds — but their GP can see if they have done a blood test and gets accurate figures to work with.

“The main problem GPs face is persuading patients to test their blood and act to control their blood sugar levels, to reduce health complications”, said Maidenhead GP Dr Jeremy Wheeler (pictured), who has closely followed trials of the new system.

“Mobile phones are so much a part of people’s lives that t+ diabetes can become simply a day-to-day activity. I have seen a massive improvement in compliance where the system is used.”

Hugo Tewson has been using t+ for nine months. “I used to find controlling my diabetes very difficult, but using the t+ diabetes system has really changed the way I manage everything”, said Hugo, a co-founder of the Diabetefix Initiative.

“I now very rarely get any results above 14 and I’ve reduced my overall HbA1c by around two points. Getting my blood glucose levels and my blood-glucose targets on a graph is massively motivating and makes everything much clearer”, he said, in an article in The Guardian. “It has allowed me to take control and responsibility for my condition and will also provide already outstretched GPs and diabetic nurses with valuable information about patients’ conditions from a distance. The more diabetics that use this kind of system, the better.”