Diabetes Education Centre

The SGH Diabetes team aims to achieve highly integrated, coordinated and timely Diabetes health care services to patients to prevent acute hospitalisations, reduce complications, improve education and coordinated pathways of Diabetes Care in all health care settings (primary, tertiary and community).

The aims of the SGH Diabetes team are to:

• Empower patients/carers to manage their diabetes condition effectively through the provision of structured diabetes self-care education programs.
• Enhance the patient journey and experiences for patients living with diabetes and carers when accessing diabetes services within the outpatient and hospital settings.
• Integrate care delivery between diabetes specialists, tertiary care providers, primary care and the diabetes service.
• Promote effective communication amongst health care providers to enhance patients’ safety and improved coordinated care providing timely and appropriate appointments.

The service is a Nurse-Led clinic with Diabetes Nurse Educators, Dietitians, Psychologist and Administrative team. We consult with our SGH Endocrinology team daily as required for clinical advice.  

Services provided include:

• Ambulatory Outpatient Insulin Stabilisation Program which is overseen by our Endocrinology Team – 6 Weeks.
• Diabetes Education and Management for Adults and Children
• Diabetes Education and Management for Women with GDM
• Dietary advice to all insulin requiring patients and women with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus (GDM)
• Referral to the High Risk Foot Clinic (HRFC) - dependent on clinical need and accepting criteria from HRFC.
• Counseling by a Psychologist (internal referral only)
• Virtual Education  
• Telehealth available for select Appointment types.
• Inpatient Education (referral are made directly through the healthcare professionals from the ward)
• Pediatric Diabetes clinic (link to Paediatric Diabetes Service)
• Transition Young Adult Diabetes Clinic 
• Continuous Subcutaneous Insulin Infusion Service (CSII pumps) known to SGH Service
• Continuous Glucose Monitoring Service (CGMS) known to SGH Service

The Diabetes Educator

Diabetes educators promote optimal health and well-being for people living with diabetes using a range of skills and knowledge. This is achieved through practical “hands on” teaching sessions, formal teaching sessions and clinical management. Education is “person centered” and “person driven” based on patient identified needs and clinical goals. You may need multiple Education sessions depending on your needs.

The Diabetes Dietitian

The Diabetes Dietitian specialises in providing dietary advice tailored to individuals with diabetes. They undertake medical nutrition therapy (MNT) to use nutrition to manage and treat diabetes alongside the team (which can include adjusting your diet to work with your medications), provide education on many nutrition topics including the impact of different foods on blood glucose levels, provide personalised meal plans/guides, provide support and motivation and play a key role in preventing or managing complications such as heart and kidney diseases. You can see the dietitian face to face or virtually.

*Please note that our Dietitians are only able to see patients who have Type 1 Diabetes, Type 2 Diabetes on Insulin, have Gestational Diabetes or have been internally referred.

If you have Type 2 diabetes and are not on insulin please contact our Outpatient Nutrition and Dietetics Team for Dietitian referral

The Diabetes Psychologist

The aim of the diabetes psychology service is to provide counselling and support to internally referred patients to improve mental health, self- management of diabetes distress and promote optimal well-being.