Pioneering diabetes clinical role to ease hospital treatment burden

A brand new diabetes healthcare role created in Southampton has been hailed as a “watershed moment” in helping to treat the condition.
Philip Newland-Jones has been made the first diabetes consultant pharmacist by Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust.
It is hoped the landmark move will help to improve diabetes care by harnessing resources – Mr Newland-Jones will be able to share the reasonability of writing prescriptions with diabetes consultants.
He will also be able to lead ward rounds, carry out reviews on patients before they are discharged and will head-up two specialist diabetes clinics.
Speaking to The Diabetes Times, Mr Newland-Jones said: “This should be a platform for more specialist pharmacists in diabetes.
“There is a decline in nurse specialists, there is a decline in registrars but we have pharmacists that are already in hospitals that can develop into diabetes specialists. What patients want is to be looked after by someone who knows about diabetes.
“For me it’s a relief because it’s something that we have been working on for the last five years, we have put a lot of hard work into this.”
Mr Newland-Jones, who joined the NHS Trust in 2008, was originally involved in a pilot project which generated impressive results for people with diabetes in hospital.
Out of 400 patients, there was a reduction in readmission rates from 8.91 per cent to five per cent and there was also a decrease in the amount of time people stayed in hospital.
Dr Mayank Patel, a specialist nurse and a dietitian employed by the trust, had previously been looking after up to 150 patients with both type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes with just the help of one other nurse.
He said: “It’s exciting to be the first trust to go down this route, it is a watershed moment for pharmacists in diabetes. We have had lots of interest from consultants at other trusts who are looking to do the same.”