Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that patients who might benefit from insulin pump therapy across England are identified and offered therapy; and if he will make a statement.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends insulin pump therapy as an option for adults and children over the age of 12 years with type 1 diabetes, provided that multiple-daily insulin therapy has already been tried to address the specific problems related to glucose control. It also recommends that insulin pump therapy can be used for children younger than 12 years with type 1 diabetes, provided specific criteria are met.

Health and care professionals are expected to take NICE guidance on the treatment of relevant conditions fully into account when deciding how to treat a patient. Insulin pump therapy can make a difference to glycaemic control and quality of life in some people but it is not appropriate for everyone. All decisions about insulin pump therapy must be made in consultation between the patient (and/or their parents or carer) and their health care professional multidisciplinary team.

The United Kingdom Insulin Pump Audit was published in May 2013, supported by Diabetes UK, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists. It collected data from all four countries of the United Kingdom. The audit demonstrates that 6% of adults with type 1 diabetes and 19% of children with type 1 diabetes are now treated with insulin pumps. The majority of centres involved in the audit reported no issues with funding of insulin pumps for patients who met the criteria set out by NICE.