§ Baroness Massey of Darwenasked Her Majesty's Government:
What plans they have for the development of diabetic care on the NHS. [HL282]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Lord Hunt of Kings Heath)The Expert Reference Group, which will advise my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Health on the development of the National Service Framework for diabetes, met for the first time today. The group 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
WA 88 - 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 will be broad, covering prevention, identification and management of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, surveillance for and management of the complications that result from diabetes, including rehabilitation and continuing care, and the management of diabetes in pregnancy.
The diabetes National Service Framework will be published in 2001. It will ensure that top quality standards of care and treatment for diabetes are available in all primary care, local hospitals and specialist centres. This programme presents an opportunity to define practical, implementable and sustainable standards for the delivery of care, focused on the needs of people with diabetes. This will help us to eliminate 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.