Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he is taking to increase the number of diabetics who are offered structured courses to help them self-manage their diabetes.

NHS England’s Action for Diabetes makes it clear that if we are to improve the health outcomes of people living with diabetes, we must improve individuals’ personal management of their condition and empower them to take charge of their own care.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Quality Standard for diabetes sets out that people with diabetes should receive a structured educational programme. NHS England is statutorily required to have regard to this. NHS England aims to use the new indicator in the Quality and Outcomes Framework and the new best practice tariff to promote provision of structured education for those with diabetes.

There are a number of national and locally developed patient education programmes available including Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating (DAFNE) for Type 1 diabetes, and Diabetes Education and Self-management for Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed (DESMOND) for Type 2 diabetes. A range of tools and guidance to help local services choose the best programmes to meet the needs of their local population is also available, for example the web based Transforming Participation in Health and Care tool.

The proportion of people with diabetes being offered structured education is improving. 16% of people newly diagnosed with diabetes were offered structured education in 2012/13 compared to 8.4% of those diagnosed in 2009. In the same period the number of people newly diagnosed with diabetes offered or attending structured education rose from 11% to 18.4%.

Public Health England, NHS England and Diabetes UK are currently working together to establish a national diabetes prevention programme, making us the first country to implement such a programme at scale, modelled on national and international proven experience.