Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what plans they have to increase the number of people living with diabetes who receive structured education courses to help them self-manage their diabetes, in the light of recommendations by NICE.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence Quality Standard for diabetes, attached, sets out that people with diabetes should receive a structured educational programme. NHS England is statutorily required to have regard to this.

There are a number of national and locally developed patient education programmes available including Dose Adjustment For Normal Eating (DAFNE) for Type 1 diabetes, and Diabetes Education and Self-management for Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed (DESMOND) for Type 2 diabetes.

While there is still much room for improvement, the proportion of people with diabetes being offered structured education is improving. 16% of people newly diagnosed with diabetes were offered structured education in 2012/13 compared to 8.4% of those diagnosed in 2009. In the same period the number of people newly diagnosed with diabetes offered or attending structured education rose from 11% to 18.4%.

No estimate has been made of the cost over a five-year period of providing group based education courses for all people living with diabetes.

The Department is developing plans to improve outcomes for those with diabetes. This will be announced in due course.