Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether an assessment has been made of the potential benefits of including a mental health professional with knowledge of diabetes in every diabetes care team.

It is for individual clinical commissioning groups to commission treatment and services for people with diabetes and they are best placed to identify what is needed in their local areas.

On 21 March 2018, NHS England and NHS Improvement along with the National Collaborating Cenre for Mental Health published ‘The Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) Pathway for People with Long-term Physical Health Conditions and Medically Unexplained Symptoms’.

IAPT services provide evidence based treatments for people with anxiety and depression and the services are co-located in existing primary and secondary care physical health pathways. IAPT services will target the needs of people with depression and anxiety disorders who also have long-term conditions such as diabetes.