16.11.15
NHS bosses to be grilled by MPs over diabetes failures
NHS England boss Simon Stevens and other representatives from the Department of Health, the NHS and Public Health England are set to be questioned by MPs this afternoon in a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) inquiry into failures to improve national diabetes services.
The committee claimed that, since reporting on diabetes services three years ago, nothing has improved, with NHS performance in delivering the nine recommended care processes in the National Service Framework for Diabetes still lagging behind target.
There are still 22,000 people estimated to be dying each year from potentially avoidable diabetes-related causes.
The MPs on the committee are now concerned that performance in delivering these key care processes and achieving appropriate treatment standards has plateaued – despite the percentage of people with diabetes being on the rise and its cost to the NHS hitting almost £6bn in 2010-11.
The evidence session, set for 4pm today (16 November), will build on a report from the National Audit Office that found performance by the department and its arm’s-length bodies in helping minimise the risk of diabetes patients developing future complications has stalled.
The auditor found that, although progress has been made in reducing the extra risk of death for people with diabetes, there are very few newly-diagnosed diabetes patients recorded as attending structured education sessions that could help them manage their condition and reduce the risk of complications.
There are also significant variations across England in delivering key care processes, achieving treatment standards and improving outcomes for patients with diabetes.
The probe follows sector-wide calls from two expert organisations to make diabetes a priority by reinstating an organisation akin to the defunct NHS Diabetes.
The organisations built on poll findings that indicated almost 40% of people with diabetes believe the NHS has worsened since the £1.1bn health service reforms in 2010, and that systematic failures could be denying them of relevant self-care education.
To top it off, the Medical Defence Union has also recently found that the number of patients suing doctors for failing to diagnose or properly manage diabetes has increased by 28% over a ten-year period.
None of the national bodies set to be investigated today have submitted evidence to the committee yet. The inquiry can be watched live at the parliamentlive.tv website.