Richard Harrington – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Richard Harrington on 2014-06-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what support, advice, guidance and funding his Department makes available for children and adults diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

Jane Ellison

Our overall aim is for all people with diabetes to have the right support to manage their condition, with access to specialist care when they need it. To help deliver this, NHS England has set out in “Action for Diabetes” how it will support improvements in outcomes for people with diabetes, focussing on earlier diagnosis of all diabetes, and support for people to manage their diabetes and so improve their quality of life.

In addition, NHS England has recently piloted a sample service specification for the management of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes based on the NICE Quality Standard for Diabetes with a number of clinical commissioning groups. This is a tool that commissioners can choose to use to deliver high quality care and offers a model for commissioning integrated care for those with diabetes. It highlights the specific care needs for those with Type 1 diabetes where they differ from those with Type 2 diabetes.

Also, the Department’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) makes a significant contribution to global research on Type 1 diabetes, in particular through its world-class research infrastructure. The NIHR Clinical Research Network is currently recruiting to 32 studies in Type 1 diabetes, in addition to 58 studies relevant to both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. Expenditure by the NIHR on research on Type 1 diabetes through research programmes, research centres and units, and research training awards rose from £1.8 million in 2011-12 to an estimated £2.8 million in 2013-14.