Registered
Charity Number 1058284
Registered
Company Number 3148360
Insulin
Dependent Diabetes Trust
Report
and Accounts
31
December 2004
Insulin Dependent Diabetes Trust,
Tel 01604 622838 e-mail enquiries@iddtinternational.org
Website www.iddtinternational.org
The
Report of the Trustees
Organisation
A board of 8 trustees administer the charity, covering policy,
membership and finance.
Under
the memoranda and articles of the Trust, the charity has the power to make any
investment that the Trustees see fit.
The
charity has no financial links with any other charities or organisations. IDDT
does not accept any financial assistance or sponsorship from pharmaceutical
companies. There are groups in other countries with similar objectives that are
affiliated to the Trust.
Year 2004 was the 10year
anniversary of the formation of IDDT and was another active year for IDDT with
the focus on reaching the wider population of people with diabetes and the
healthcare professionals treating them.
In
October 2004 IDDT celebrated the 10year anniversary with a well-attended
conference 'The Voice for Choice'.
Widening IDDT's message
IDDT
began a planned advertising campaign in local newspapers to inform people of
the possible adverse effects of GM insulins and to inform them of their choice
of insulin treatment. There was an excellent response from people with diabetes,
as a result of which IDDT membership increased by a third so demonstrating the
value of greater publicity of the adverse effects experienced by some people
when using synthetic insulin.
The
advertising ceased in September due to shortages of supplies of animal insulins
manufactured by CP/Wockhardt UK but IDDT plans to
continue when stocks return to normal.
With
the increasing tendency for diabetes to be managed in primary care, the Trust
also increased the number of articles and advertisements in professional
journals, especially those concerned with primary care. As a result of this
over 500 practice nurses expressed a wish to receive information and
publications from the Trust.
Increasing
the office facilities
The
increase in membership and the increase in activities of the Trust resulted in an office expansion and inproved
office equipment during 2004. This has enabled the Trust to be more efficient
and effective.
Website
Revision
A
complete revision of the
IDDT-International website took place and this was launched in
June 2004. There has been an increase in visits to the website and in people
wishing to join IDDT..
The
Threat of Discontinuation of Pork Insulin by Novo Nordisk
In
2003 Novo Nordisk stated their intention to make a
final decision about continued availability of their pork insulin before the
summer of 2004 but this did not take place. They then stated that they would
make the decision by mid 2005 but this has still not been made. IDDT continues
to lobby against Novo Nordisk's discontinuation as it
would leave people in the UK with Wockhardt UK as the
sole supplier of pork insulin and their supplies have unreliable during 2004
and 2005.
However
in September 2004, Novo Nordisk did announce 18months
notice of the discontinuation of some of their GM 'human' insulin product
range. The company recommends that people using these GM insulins should change
to insulin analogues but the Trust has serious concerns about this as the
long-term safety of insulin analogues is unknown and they have the potential
for carcinogenic effects. The Trust deplores Novo Nordisk's
decision as it yet again ignores the needs of people with diabetes,
it reduces patients' choice and causes an unnecessary change of insulin for
many people, for little or no clinical benefit.
Cochrane
Review of Short-acting insulin analogues
In
2004 a Cochrane Review of short-acting insulin analogues was published which
showed minimal clinical benefit for patients but warned that a cautious
approach to the use of insulin analogues should be adopted due to the lack of
evidence of their long-term safety and their potential for carcinogenic
effects.
Once
again the Trust expresses its thanks to the Cochrane
Collaboration for providing people with diabetes with high quality evidence on
which to make their treatment choices.
Lobbying
and Campaigning
The
lobbying campaign that started in 2003 has continued throughout 2004 and 2005.
The campaign centres on:
·
the need to maintain a
choice of insulin treatment
·
raising awareness of
the adverse effects that some people suffer when using GM 'human' insulins
·
maintaining supplies of animal insulins indefinitely for people, both
now and in the future, who cannot tolerate GM insulins.
Our members have worked tirelessly to seek the help
of their MPs and MEPs. This resulted in over 40
Parliamentary Questions, a meeting in May 2004 with civil servants from the
Dept of Health and
in December a meeting with the Health Minister, Rosie Winterton.
The campaign has continued into 2005 and will continue as long as necessary.
The Trust is totally committed to safeguarding the health and wellbeing of the
30,000 people in the
At the AGM in 2003 IDDT members agreed to employ
the services of a parliamentary lobbyist. Mr James Pawsey.was
appointed to this role and the Trust is extremely grateful to him for his
energetic commitment to our cause and without whom we would not have raised our
profile in the political arena or achieved meetings with the Minister of
Health.
The
Trustees wish to express thanks to the many MPs and MEPs
who have been extremely supportive. They also express their sincere gratitude
to the members for their unfailing support and the time and effort they are
spending on this campaign. The Trustees also wish to thank Wockhardt
IDDT -
International continues to develop greater communication and mutual
support between the IDDT groups and individual people with diabetes in
different countries. This has increased with the continued systematic
discontinuation of animal insulins in countries around the world. During 2004
animal insulins were discontinued in most EU countries.
2004 saw an increase in the number of people contacting
IDDT from other countries with many searching for information about personal
importation from the
The
Trust continues to deplore the discontinuation of animal insulins in countries
around the world as it denies people the treatment they need. The Trust also
continues to be concerned that people are not given the fully informed choice of insulin treatment to which they are
entitled. This convinces the Trustees of the continued necessity for
IDDT-International to provide factually correct information to people with
diabetes.
IDDT-International
continues to enable people to realise that the
adverse effects they experience with synthetic insulin are shared by many other
people. Providing information and support wherever people live continues to be
a major role and IDDT encourages and supports them to campaign for recognition
of the problems that GM insulins can cause and to campaign for easily
accessible and affordable natural animal insulins.
In
addition to its campaign for continued availability of animal insulins, the
Trust has also written to the Minister of Health about the lack or reduction in
supplies of blood glucose reagent strips in some areas of the country. This continues
to be of concern.
Increasing
awareness among politicians and organisations through ePolitix microsite
ePolitix is a website used
extensively as an information source by politicians and civil servants. In 2002
IDDT launched a microsite on the forum of ePolitix to raise awareness amongst politicians of the
issues that affect people with diabetes and in particular the need for
patients/consumers to be involved in every aspect of their healthcare and
decision making. The Trustees decided
to continue with this microsite for 2004 as a source
of information to support the lobbying campaign.
IDDT publications
The
Trust continues to publish a quarterly Newsletter and this is sent to members,
to 400 diabetes specialist nurses throughout the UK and 550 practice nurses
with a special interest in diabetes. During 2004 IDDT has continued to develop
a database of people who contact IDDT for information and these people are sent
and Information Pack and the next two issues of the Newsletter and then asked
if they would like to be members. This system has resulted in an increase in
membership.
The
Trust has increased the number of leaflets that are available on various
aspects of diabetes. The demand for information leaflets has increased and we
are now supplying them to people
living with diabetes and to healthcare professionals.
IDDT
continues to provide the Newsletter in large print and on tape for visually
impaired and blind people. The Trustees wish to thank to Eileen and Richard Probyn-Skinner for being the readers for the tape version.
IDDT Research Grants
The
Trust has continued to advertise the availability of research grants to be
awarded in line with the aims of the charity - to studies that look into ways
of making the day to day life with diabetes easier for people.
Legacy
income is variable but it is hoped that IDDT will be able to continue to make
small research grants up to £10,000 available. Many of the applications
received are not in line with the Trust's policy and therefore have not been
accepted.
In
2004, the Trust awarded three grants in the following areas:
·
Young people and insulin pumps
·
People with chronic ischaemia and diabetic neuropathy.
·
The subjective beliefs about the
health and illness in women with Type 2 diabetes.
Collection of
in-date, unwanted insulin - this continues to grow and in 2004 the Trust
collected 52,000mls of insulin for people unable to afford insulin. So regular supplies of insulin and other diabetes related supplies
are sent to help children and adults with diabetes in
The Trust thanks all those who
send unwanted insulin and especially the diabetes clinics around the
Sponsor a child at
the Dream Trust - IDDT members continue to contribute
£2.00 or more a month to help sponsor the insulin and medical needs of children
at the Dream Trust. Members donate £180.00 per month and the regular reports
about the children demonstrate how much they benefit from this help. IDDT and
Dr Pendsey at Dream Trust express their gratitude to
IDDT members who support needy families.
Financial Affairs
IDDT
is very grateful for the continued generosity of the members in making
donations and especially to the increasing number of people who make regular
donations through their bank.
The
Trustees also wish to record their gratitude to the donors of legacies and
donations in memory of loved ones. Their kindness in helping other people with
diabetes is very much appreciated.
In conclusion
The
Trustees would like to express their thanks for the continuing support and help
of IDDT members. This provides encouragement to continue with the aims and
objectives. It also reflects the needs of people with diabetes and their
families to be represented by a patient/carer based
charity that understands these needs and remains independent and uninfluenced
by outside financial influences.
The
Trustees reaffirm their commitment and determination to try to ensure that
people with diabetes and their families have the informed choices of treatment
and the access to them that they deserve and need.
Reserves policy
The
Trustees regularly assess the activities of the charity in relation to its
financial position in order to conform with its
rolling forward plan. The Trustees have ensured that there are sufficient free
reserves to cover planned activities.
Trustees’ responsibilities
The
Trustees are responsible for the preparation of the financial statements for
each year that give a true and fair view of the state
of affairs of the charity at the end of the financial year and of the surplus
deficit for that year. In preparing the financial statements, they are required
to:
·
Select
suitable accounting policies and apply these consistently;
·
Make
judgements and estimates that are reasonable and prudent;
·
Prepare
the financial statements on a going concern basis unless it is inappropriate to
presume that the charity will continue in business.
·
The
Trustees are responsible for keeping proper records which disclose with
reasonable accuracy at any time the financial position of the charity and
enables them to ensure that the financial statements comply with the Companies
Act 1985. The Trustees are responsible for taking any reasonable steps for the
prevention and detection of fraud and any other irregularities.
By order of the
Trustees.
Mrs J Hirst
(Joint Chairperson)
The Trustees of IDDT 2004
Co Chairman Jenny Hirst
Dr Matthew Kiln
Treasurer Sue Morris
Medical Adviser Dr Laurence Gerlis
Trustees Carol Baker
Larrane Ingram
Pam Maples
Veronica Readman