News
Progress in diabetes care and prevention in UK
5 September 2008
Diabetes care in the NHS is improving and focussing more on
prevention, according to a report published by the Department of Health.
The report, Five years on: delivering the diabetes national
service framework, reflects on how well the NHS is
performing against the standards for diabetes care set out in the
National Service Framework (NSF) Delivery Strategy in 2003.
As well as reflecting on progress made in diabetes care, the
report sets out areas which must be improved during the second half of
the timeframe set by the NSF.
For example, the report acknowledges that more work must be done to
improve outcomes for young people with diabetes and that the Children
and Young People Implementation Support Group, set up by the Department
of Health, is working to make progress in this area.
The Department of Health also pledges to continue to work with the
National Screening Committee and the NHS to offer screening for diabetic
retinopathy to all people with diabetes.
In line with the Government's commitment to providing a preventative
health service, the Department of Health says that the NHS is making particular progress with the following
priorities in diabetes care:
- identifying diabetes earlier in people who were unaware that they
had the condition: around 600,000 people have been diagnosed with diabetes in the last
five years, equivalent to 2,000 a week, and are now receiving the
treatment they need to manage their condition.
- identifying people at risk of diabetes and providing treatment and
advice to help prevent them from developing the condition: the vascular risk programme announced in April, Putting Prevention
First, is expected to prevent around 4,000 patients from developing
diabetes each year: the obesity strategy, Healthy Weight Healthy Lives is helping
people to make lifestyle changes that will reduce their risk of diabetes.
- ensuring that people with diabetes are given tests that help to
prevent long-term complications: increasing numbers of people with diabetes are being routinely
monitored by their GP for indicators of complications.
Health Minister, Ann Keen, said: "Today's report shows that the NHS is getting better and better at
identifying people with diabetes and at supporting them to manage their
condition.
"The Next Stage Review made prevention a priority for the NHS and
this is especially relevant to diabetes, as a disease whose global
increase in prevalence is partly a consequence of rising obesity.
"Our vascular risk assessment programme, Putting Prevention First is
expected to prevent thousands of people developing diabetes each year
and our strategy to tackle the rise in obesity will help many more
reduce their risk of the disease."
National Clinical Director for Diabetes, Dr Rowan Hillson MBE, said: "The NHS has responded impressively to the first five years of the
National Service Framework. More and more people with diabetes are
getting good routine care, and their outcomes are improving year on
year.
"The next five years will continue to bring challenges for diabetes
teams as they work to further improve diabetes services in both primary
and secondary care.
"I look forward to working with the National Diabetes Support Team
and other key partners such as Diabetes UK to support the NHS in driving
further improvements in care for people with diabetes."
Intellect emphasises role of telehealth in diabetes care
Intellect, the trade association for the UK technology sector, has
welcomed the new report. Intellect says that in meeting the challenges
laid out by the report, it is important to take into account how
telehealth (essentially remote patient monitoring) can help support both
patients and clinicians.
With the growing problems of an ageing population and a finite amount
of resources, telehealth solutions are a vital tool in providing care
for diabetes. By performing simple tasks at home, eg measuring their own
blood sugar levels, blood pressure or heart rate, patients can take
charge of their own care. The information generated is then
automatically transmitted to clinicians, which reduces the need for
patients to come into health centres or for nurses to pay home visits.
Adrian Flowerday, chair of Intellect’s Telehealth Group and Docobo
MD, has over a decade of experience working to help patients and
clinicians via telehealth. He highlights below three examples of how
telehealth benefits diabetes care: "First, for patients with Type-1
diabetes, telehealth can help clinicians to better understand a
patient’s insulin usage and enable appropriate medication titration.
"Second, post diagnosis of type-2 diabetes, two to three months of
telehealth can help to educate patients about their condition and any
necessary lifestyle changes, monitor potential periods of depression,
and can help clinicians to keep their patients’ blood-glucose levels
under control. And third, for all diabetes patients, telehealth can
serve as a long term reminder system for patients to monitor their blood
sugar.”
Telehealth can help patients stay healthy longer, puts patients more
in charge of their own care, and supports clinicians in managing their
patients more efficiently — all goals of Lord Darzi’s NHS Next Stage
Review. The value of telehealth is recognised by the NHS, as is
demonstrated by the Whole System Demonstrator programme and NHS
Connecting for Health’s wider work on assistive technology.
A broader application of such telehealth programmes would help
provide a higher quality of diabetes care, Intellect says.
Further informationThe report Five years on: delivering the
diabetes national service framework and the Diabetes national
service framework, can be found at:
www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/NationalServiceFrameworks/
Diabetes/index.htm
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