§ Tim Loughton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much public funding will be allocated to treatment of diabetes in fiscal year 2004–05. [141155]
§ Ms Rosie Winterton:In his 2002 Budget announcement, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced the largest sustained increase in funding of any five-year period in the history of the national health service. Over the years 2003–04 to 2007–08, these plans mean that expenditure on the NHS will increase on average by 7.4 per cent., a year over and above inflation. However in keeping with the philosophy of "Shifting the Balance of Power", primary care trusts are free to decide the allocation of resources locally.
§ Tim Loughton:To ask the Secretary of State for Health what investment is in place in diabetes management which will decrease the number of acute cases reaching hospital. [141156]
§ Ms Rosie Winterton:The diabetes national service framework standards, published in 2001, noted that the risk and severity of diabetic ketoacidosis can be reduced by the provision of guidance and advice to people with diabetes on how to manage changes in blood glucose control that occur during other illnesses and pointed out that episodes of hypoglycaemia can be managed in the community, either by the person with diabetes, a relative or carer, their general practitioner or by ambulance personnel.
764W"Improvement, Expansion and reform: the next three years", the planning and priorities framework for 2003–06, includes targets for diabetes services. One such target states the need for primary care trusts (PCTs) to update practice-based registers for people with diabetes by March 2006. This will help to ensure that they receive systematic treatment regimens and advice to help support them in managing their own condition, including acute episodes, more effectively.
In his 2002 Budget announcement, my right hon. Friend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, announced the largest sustained increase in funding of any five-year period in the history of the national health service. Over the years 2003–04 to 2007–08, these plans mean that expenditure on the NHS will increase on average by 7.4 per cent., a year over and above inflation. However in keeping with the philosophy of "Shifting the Balance of Power", PCTs are free to decide the allocation of resources locally.