The management of adult diabetes services in the NHS

Download or read book The management of adult diabetes services in the NHS written by Great Britain: National Audit Office and published by The Stationery Office. This book was released on 2012-05-23 with total page 48 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2009-10, there were an estimated 3.1 million adults with diabetes in England and this is expected to increase by 23 per cent to 3.8 million by 2020. The Department estimates that it has increased its spending on diabetes services from £0.9 billion in 2006 - 2007 to £1.3 billion in 2009-10. The NAO considers these figures to be a substantial underestimate, and estimates that NHS spending on diabetes services in 2009-10 was at least £3.9 billion, or around four per cent of the NHS budget. The Department's data show that only half of people with diabetes received the recommended standards of care in 2009-10, even though the proportion has increased from 36 per cent in 2006-07. The standards originally set in 2001, state that people with diabetes should receive nine basic care processes each year but no primary care trust achieved the aim of delivering all nine basic care processes to all people, with the highest trust scoring 69 per cent and the lowest just 6 per cent. Furthermore, fewer than one in five people with diabetes are achieving recommended standards for controlling glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol levels. As well as diminishing quality of life, diabetic complications place a significant burden on the NHS. The Department also estimates that up to 24,000 people die each year from avoidable causes related to their diabetes. There is significant variation in the quality of care received by people with diabetes which cannot be satisfactorily explained. Through better management of people with diabetes, the NHS could save £170 million a year.