Diabetes charity calls for changes to government health bill

The charity Diabetes UK is calling on the government to makes changes to the new Health and Social Care Bill, as it fears it will have a negative effect on the integration and continuity of good quality care for people suffering from diabetes due to its policy on competition and a more fragmented commissioning of services.
The charity is expected to submit its response to the Bill Committee today, warning that people with diabetes in England would receive worse care, and not have a healthcare body for the provision of integrated care.
It is calling on the coalition government to ensure the bill requires the commissioning bodies to work together to offer integrated care, and wants strengthened duties to ensure diabetics and healthcare professionals focused on diabetes are involved in the commissioning of integrated diabetes care .
Barbara Young, the chief executive of Diabetes UK, commented “The opening up of the health service provision to competition that the Bill encourages risks fragmentation of integrated services and networks of care as elements are delivered by different providers, especially those new to the healthcare economy.”
She added “Care for three million people must not be put at risk by an unwillingness to provide adequate direction for the new commissioning bodies.”