NHS not providing basic healthcare for diabetes patients, says report

Fri, 16 Dec 2011
A new report by the Department of Health has shown that the up to half of all diabetes patients in England are not receiving the basic healthcare checks recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

The report, entitled the NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare, revealed that around two thirds of type 1 diabetes patients and nearly half of those with type 2 diabetes failed to receive all the nine recommended healthcare checks between 2009 and 2010. These numbers show little improvement from the previous year.

It was also found that the amount of care varied widely across the country, with patients suffering from either type 1 or type 2 diabetes being over two-and-a-half times more likely to get all basic health checks if they lived in some parts of England as compared to others.

The findings have prompted Diabetes UK to demand that the government places diabetes at the top of the health agenda. Barbara Young, the chief executive of the national charity, commented "It is appalling that even after seeing similar results in last year’s report, people with diabetes are still not receiving the basic level of care that they need."

She added "There is no reason why people with diabetes cannot live long and healthy lives if they have access to high-quality care. We will be holding the NHS to account wherever it fails to deliver high-quality diabetes care."

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