Diabetes – new clinical guidelines and progress on the national service framework

Diabetes – new clinical guidelines and progress on the national service framework

Diabetes – new clinical guidelines and progress on the national service framework

Health Minister, Jacqui Smith announced important steps to improve health care for people with diabetes. The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has issued two clinical guidelines for the management of Type 2 (non-insulin dependent) diabetes. They cover the screening for the management of retinopathy (eye problems) and the prevention and management of renal (kidney) disease.

Welcoming the guidelines, Jacqui Smith said:

I am delighted that NICE has issued these clinical guidelines, which I know have been keenly awaited, and look forward to seeing the remaining three in the series in the Spring. The Type 2 diabetes guidelines will help underpin implementation of the Diabetes National Service Framework.

Also, following publication of the new national standards for diabetes care on 14 December 2001, work is now progressing on the Diabetes National Service Framework (NSF) delivery strategy, which is to be published later this year.

An implementation Group has been set up to inform the development of the Diabetes NSF delivery strategy. The Group is chaired jointly by Professor Mike Pringle and Dr Sheila Adam, Director of Policy at the Department of Health. Its membership is drawn broadly from people with diabetes and from the medical, nursing and allied health professions.

Jacqui Smith said:

The formation of this Implementation Group is another step in taking the Diabetes NSF forward. The NSF will make sure that people receive high-quality care at the right time and in the right place. The Diabetes NSF is the first to focus on a chronic disease and clearly sets out the partnerships that must be at the centre of modern diabetes services. Partnerships between people with diabetes and professionals; between primary care and specialist services; and between doctors, nurses and allied health care professionals. These partnerships are the key to delivering the NSF to improve the care received by the many thousands of people with diabetes.

The recent launch of the UK's National Service Framework standards for Diabetes (www.doh.gov.uk/nsf/diabetes) has focused attention on a growing problem affecting well over one million people in this country. Improved nutrition, weight loss and sustained weight maintenance and increased physical activity are three key lifestyle change factors in the prevention and management of Type 2 diabetes. But these are often the most difficult for health professionals to implement and for patients and the public to adhere to.

Further information is available from: The Department of Health, Richmond House, 79 Whitehall, London SW1A 2NS, UK. Tel: +44 (0) 20 7210 300; Fax: +44 (0) 20 7210 5433/4; www.doh.gov.uk (Media Centre): 0870 000 6244.