Friends Fund £875.00 for a TV with Google Assistant & Amazon Alexa to assist in helping to understand and educate patients.

The continued increase in patients diagnosed with diabetes mellitus (DM), coupled with NHS resources stretched to cope with the increasing demands of managing the condition and its complications, has encouraged healthcare providers to develop appropriate means to educate patients such that they can swiftly become experts in their condition. Accessing education and motivational messaging via prescribed film content designed to precipitate behavioural change as a vehicle to promote healthy lifestyle choices and good self-care practices could reduce the costly complications of DM, such as diabetic foot ulceration and potentially represents a scalable and cost-effective approach.

The department carries a caseload of between 8,000-10,000 patients at any one time and they would use this visual mode of education as a long term, permanent tool to help educate patients thus intending to reduce the weight of SOS presentations or unnecessary contacts for podiatry, biomechanics and physiotherapy.

They have the software to film the educational videos, using our practitioners as educators. This will negate the need for extra funding towards the information videos they would like to play on the television.

A lovely message from the Podiatry team:

Thank you so much for the wonderful gift of the TV from the Friends of St Mary’s. It will be used in the Podiatry waiting room to give public health messages about ways to achieve good foot health to enhance mobility and assist with maintaining independence. We also share our rooms with the MSK Physio and Spinal triage teams, and they too will be able to avail of the wonderful opportunity to spread their public health messages too. We are very grateful and can see this TV will be a real boon. Thank you so much.

Stephanie Stanley D.Pod.M, Pg.Dip FRCPodM, FFPM RCPS (Glasg)

Consultant Podiatrist,

Clinical/Professional lead for Podiatry

In the picture:

Johanna McGregor, Podiatry Degree Apprentice, Betty Humphries, Friends shop volunteer, Andrea Edgson, Friends Trustee, Stephen Taylor, Podiatry Trainee ACP.