Diabetes Watch - raising standards in diabetes care

13 January 2012

Diabetes Watch aims to make providers accountable for the quality of care provided for people with diabetes.  Their latest tool is a publication called ‘Diabetes – what care you should receive’ and is based on the care standards set out by NICE and NHS Quality Improvement.

The document consists of a patient checklist of 15 key points which should be addressed in order to provide a good standard of diabetes care.

Most of the money that is spent on diabetes care goes on treating the cardiovascular complications of the condition, not just macrovascular complications such as stroke and myocardial infarction but also microvascular complications such as retinopathy, nephropathy and neuropathy. However, the cost in terms of the impact on quality of life is immeasurable. The checklist should make it easy for both patients and clinicians to compare best practice with current practice. This will allow any gaps to be identified and closed.

Diabetes is a rapidly evolving area of care; new guidance on diagnosis and targets along with an influx of new therapies onto the market means it can be a challenge for clinicians to keep up to date.

Education for Health's diabetes modules address the educational needs of clinicians by considering the condition not just as a stand-alone issue, but also in the context of its impact on cardiovascular risk. Completion of a module at diploma or degree level should enable clinicians to understand the importance of meeting the standards set down by Diabetes UK.

To read more about 'Diabetes – what care you should receive' go to the Diabetes UK website and encourage your patients to do the same; there is a survey there which can be completed to help Diabetes UK to monitor the overall standard of care being offered in the UK for people with diabetes.

< Back