NHS Direct wants to rethink the support it offers people who phone the NHS Direct number and who have diabetes. It is embarking on a 6 month project to develop a revised telephone service and wants to develop better links to existing local and regional diabetes services.
This conference brings together a wide range of people with an interest in improving what NHS Direct offers to people with diabetes and includes:
• People with diabetes, some of whom have used NHS Direct
• Staff from Acute Hospitals, General Practice, Specialist and Community Services
• Staff from NHS Direct, Diabetes UK and the NHS Diabetes Support Team
We want to use the day to draw on participants experience and ideas:
1. To discuss and explore what NHS Direct could offer in the future to people who phone in and have diabetes.
2. To discuss and explore how NHS Direct can most usefully work with the existing network of regional and local services for people with diabetes.
3. To identify further work that needs to happen as part of the 6 month NHS Direct improvement project.
It is quite likely that the day will highlight other areas for improvement which fall outside NHS Direct’s responsibility and we will make every effort to see that these get taken up by the relevant organisation. The day is designed to give plenty of opportunity for discussion and developing ideas with others: we hope you will find it enjoyable, interesting and productive.
Some back ground information: At the moment NHS Direct receives calls from:
A. People who say they have diabetes and ask for help and advice.
B. People who have diabetes but don’t mention this and ask for help and advice.
C. People phone for help and advice who have diabetes but don’t know it or have not been diagnosed and during the telephone call symptoms of diabetes are identified by NHS Direct staff.
D. Often the help and advice sought by people phoning NHS Direct is to do with medications.
NHS Direct received 13,000 calls last year from callers regarding non symptomatic diabetes enquiries. The actual total numbers of people with diabetes who phone are not known as they are assessed according to symptoms rather than diagnosis, however, they do represent a large percentage of the 500,000 calls received every month by NHS Direct.
The Conference is designed to allow lots of time for focused discussion amongst the 100 or so delegates and opportunities to develop ideas and practical suggestions. We look forward to seeing you there and to it being a very productive and influential day.