HC Deb 08 December 1999 vol 340 cc563-5W
Mr. David Stewart

To ask the Secretary of State for Health when pen needles for use by diabetics will be available on prescription. [100918]

Ms Stuart

We have consulted on proposals which would include allowing insulin pen needles to be prescribed by general practitioners on the National Health Service. We have received representations from most of the organisations consulted. We are considering them and are seeking clarification on certain points before we make our final decisions.

Mr. Dobbin

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what plans he has for the development of diabetic care on the NHS. [101368]

Mr. Denham

My noble Friend Lord Hunt of Kings Heath, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health, is announcing today the membership of the Expert Reference Group which will advise my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Health on the development of the National Service Framework for diabetes. The Group met for the first time today. It is co-chaired by Professor Mike Pringle, Chair of the Council of the Royal College of General Practitioners, and Mr. Peter Houghton, Regional Director of the Eastern Regional Office of the National Health Service Executive.

Membership of the Expert Reference Group is as follows: Professor George Alberti, President of the Royal College of Physicians Mr. Zac Arif, Chief Executive of Teddington Memorial Hospital Ms Debbie Bamford, Chief Executive of Woking Primary Care Group Dr. Peter Betts, Paediatrician from Southampton General Infirmary Mr. Ian Donnachie, Chief Executive of Bradford Health Authority Dr. Azhar Farooqui, General Practitioner and Primary Care Group Clinical Governance Lead, Leicester Dr. Owain Gibby, Diabetologist, Royal Gwent Hospital Dr. Trisha Greenhalgh, General Practitioner, London Ms Geeta Patel, a user of diabetes services and mother of triplets, Wolverhampton Dr. Veena Soni Raleigh, Epidemiologist and Researcher, National Institute of Epidemiology Mr. John Rostill, Chief Executive, Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust Mr. Paul Streets, Chief Executive, British Diabetic Association Ms Sheridan Waldron, Dietitian, Leicester Ms Rosemary Walker, Diabetes Specialist Nurse, Suffolk and Chair, Royal College of Nursing Diabetes Nursing Forum Professor Rhys Williams, Professor of Epidemiology and Public Health, Nuffield Institute for Health, Leeds Dr. Bob Young, Diabetologist, Hope Hospital, Salford. Another user of diabetes services will be brought on to the Group early in the New Year.

The scope of the diabetes National Service Framework covers prevention, ascertainment, identification, management and complications of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and the management of diabetes in pregnancy.

The diabetes National Service Framework will be published in 2001. It will set national quality standards and service models for diabetes, and presents an opportunity to define practical, implementable and sustainable standards for the delivery of care, focused on the needs of people with diabetes. It will help us to reduce unacceptable variations in care, while improving the overall quality of services. The diabetes National Service Framework will pay particular heed to the needs of those who are disproportionately affected by diabetes, such as people from ethnic minority communities.