Our History
The origins of the IMPACT team can be traced back to 2003, when the National standards framework for diabetes stated that there needed to be a paradigm shift in the provision of healthcare, from systems that focused on acute delivery of healthcare to systems that would support people living with long term conditions to manage their condition day by day. Along with this shift, came the need for a different set of skills for healthcare providers and a different set of expectations and skills among people living with a long term health condition. Improving a person’s understanding of their health condition was considered vital in ensuring that persons could engage in their own care, so in 2005 the Department of Health and Diabetes UK jointly agreed criteria for structured education programmes. These criteria were that all programmes of structured education (SE) should have:
A philosophy
Underpinning theories
An evidence base
A structured curriculum
Trained educators
Be quality assured
Be audited
Through our early work as part of the DESMOND collaborative, we successfully developed, tested, refined, and embedded a portfolio of structured education programmes that met the National criteria into real world settings in the UK and overseas. For example, DESMOND Newly diagnosed and foundation programme, Lets prevent Diabetes, Walking Away from Diabetes.
As our portfolio of SE programmes began to change; we rebranded to reflect the emerging diversity of work. IMPACT encompasses the existing DESMOND portfolio and newer areas of activity, such as developing SE programmes for people surviving stroke or living with severe mental illness; and delivering training for different stakeholders, including health champions, truck drivers, mental health nurses.
At the heart of all our work, we hold a core set of philosophical principles of person centeredness and partnership working; against we judge all of our work.
We acknowledge and accept that people ‘at risk of’ or ‘living with’ a long-term health condition are ultimately responsible for their health condition. They are the ones who have to make day to day decisions that will affect their future health and wellbeing e.g. choices around food, activity, medicines, they ultimately experience the consequences.
We believe that people at risk of’ or ‘living with’ a long term health condition will make decisions that move them toward a direction of best possible physical and emotional health, as they understand it, not necessarily how health care providers understand it.
We believe that people want to maximise their quality of life and will make decisions accordingly. Quality of life is individually determined and will not always match our personal view. The barriers to self-management are in the person’s world.
Our core beliefs inform how our programmes are developed and delivered.
We believe that individuals ‘at risk of’ or ‘living with’ a long term health condition such as diabetes should be given an open, honest, and complete picture of their health condition, and supported in processing and understanding this information so that they can make their own self-management plan. We believe that all individuals should be treated with the utmost respect and unconditional positive regard. Demonstrating empathy, warmth, and valuing of all individuals are essential for the success of any educational interaction.