Life after Gestational Diabetes: Health, Working Life and Missed Opportunities

Join us for an in-person event at the Terrace Room, Phoenix Leicester, where we’ll explore the journey beyond gestational diabetes and its lasting impact on women’s health and working lives.  This event creates a space for women with lived experience of gestational diabetes to share their insights, helping to shape public awareness, workplace practices, and health policies. 

This event will explore the following questions:

•             What happens after a diagnosis of gestational diabetes and why does long-term care often fall short?

•             How does chronic disease affect women’s ability to work and access support?

•             What can employers and service providers do to improve outcomes for these women?

Gestational diabetes is a common pregnancy complication where women develop high blood sugar levels. While it often goes away after giving birth, women who have had gestational diabetes are almost ten times more likely to develop type 2 diabetes in the future. Yet, fewer than 1 in 4 women received the follow-up test needed to screen for type 2 diabetes, suggesting that there are missed opportunities for prevention. This gap in care affects women’s long-term health, their ability to work, and has the biggest impact on those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Why attend?

This event will:

• Raise awareness about the lack of follow-up care and long-term risks
• Support women to feel empowered in managing their health, work and family life
• Bring lived experience together with research to guide better policies and practices

This event will be chaired by Dr Elpida Vounzoulaki, a University of Leicester postdoctoral researcher specialising in gestational diabetes and its lasting impact on women’s health.

Panel members include:

• Bhaveena Browne: Person with lived experience of gestational diabetes
• Claire Meek: Professor of Chemical Pathology & Diabetes in Pregnancy
• Nicola Junkin: Assistant Director HR – Health Wellbeing and Organisational Development
• Clare Haynes: Assistant Director of HR (Business Partnering)

This event is open to anyone interested in women’s health, workplace wellbeing, and equity.

The event will be of particular interest to:

• Women with a previous diagnosis of gestational diabetes- an opportunity for them to share their perspectives directly, raise unanswered questions, areas of future research, as well as unmet needs.
• Clinicians and healthcare professionals – a chance to reflect on challenges in long-term follow-up, share best practice, and explore how care pathways can be improved.
• Individuals who work in HR, employers as well as community health advocates - an opportunity to improve support for women’s health in the workplace and achieving equity.
• Policy makers and stakeholders- an opportunity to gain insights about how the current systems are functioning and how they are failing individuals which can guide and shape more informed and relevant policy.