News

Experts call for comprehensive review of NHS diabetes care in light of systematic failures

Almost 40% of people with diabetes believe the NHS has worsened since the £1.1bn health service reforms in 2010, and systematic failures could be denying them of relevant self-care education, two expert organisations have found.

InDependent Diabetes Trust (IDDT), an independent charity, published a report based on a survey with more than 15,000 people revealing that nearly half of them felt the NHS was plummeting and claimed they were not given the appropriate advice and information about diet and exercise at the time of diagnosis.

And 32% of surveyed patients said they did not feel their GP or practice nurse knew enough about diabetes and their condition.

As a result of the findings, the charity sent a letter to health secretary Jeremy Hunt calling for fundamental changes to how this care is delivered, including prioritising the care of those living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.

Commenting on the findings, the Leicester Diabetes Centre – a research centre hosted at the Leicester General Hospital in partnership between the local trusts and university – pointed to systematic failures in the health service.

Co-director of the centre and professor at the University of Leicester, Melanie Davies, said the NHS faces a major challenge as the prevalence of diabetes continues to rise.

She continued: “Self-management education programmes that meet the national quality standard are a proven way of supporting people to self-care in diabetes. We believe this kind of fully-evidence diabetes education is key to preventing this looming NHS crisis and the misery of the complications of the condition.

“People with diabetes who are denied access to education are being let down by systematic failures because education should be at the heart of diabetes care. Local health services not offering structured education are failing people with diabetes.”

And Jenny Hirst, co-chair of the charity responsible for the survey, said that, while the new national diabetes prevention programme is important, the IDDT was very concerned that three million people may be missing out on essential treatment.

“Not only does this adversely affect their long-term health, but this added risk of complications of diabetes increases the financial burden placed on the NHS,” she added.

Hirst mentioned how NHS reforms launched in 2010 to abolish primary care trusts and introduce clinical commissioning groups might not be as beneficial as originally intended, with 38% of survey respondents feeling services had worsened while 7% felt there had been no improvement.

In the charity’s letter to Hunt, Hirst listed a series of recommendations to tackle negative findings, including making diabetes a priority in the Five Year Forward review by reinstating an organisation akin to the defunct NHS Diabetes.

She also claimed CCGs should be strongly encouraged to follow NICE guidance to commission convenient and structured education courses, as well as provide hard copy information about diabetes and treatments to the estimated 2.5 million patients who failed to receive this education.

Hirst also told Hunt the current dietary guidelines are over 30 years old, begging for an independent and systematic review in order to provide updated and more evidence-based guidance.

Other recommendations included increasing resources to ensure all patients received key health checks, increasing the amount of NHS podiatrists, and putting plans in place to improve diabetes care for older people in care homes.