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Written Question
Diabetes: Medical Equipment
Tuesday 6th February 2024

Asked by: Steve McCabe (Labour - Birmingham, Selly Oak)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has made an assessment of the adequacy of the availability of continuous glucose monitoring for people with type-1 diabetes; and if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of taking steps to increase access to that monitoring.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The NHS Long Term Plan made a commitment that 20% of people with type 1 diabetes would benefit from life changing flash glucose monitors. Data up to the third quarter of 2022/23 shows that 73% of people with type 1 diabetes were prescribed flash glucose monitoring, against the 20% target. As a result of the recent National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidance that also recommended that insulin dependent patients with type 2 diabetes should benefit from flash or continuous glucose monitoring devices, we are now starting to see a growth in prescription within the type 2 diabetes patient group.

Variation ratio in prescribing between the most and least affluent Indices of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) quintiles has been monitored on a quarterly basis. Variation between these IMD quintiles has reduced in every English region. When the programme started, Flash was twice as likely to be prescribed to patients living in the most affluent areas. The current ratio between most and least affluent geographies is now at a ratio of 1 to 1.02, meaning there is virtually parity between the most and least deprived patient groups across England.


Written Question
Diabetes: Medical Treatments
Friday 19th January 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking with (a) the NHS, (b) community organisations and (c) health experts to help tackle inequalities in the treatment of diabetes.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Integrated care boards (ICBs) are responsible for improving the health of their populations, including the planning and delivery of diabetes clinical services and addressing health inequalities. The national NHS Diabetes Programme (NDP) develops policies and provides leadership and support to ICBs to improve diabetes care and outcomes.

The NDP ensures local health care systems can identify inequalities in diabetes care and outcomes through National Diabetes Audit data that contains demographic information such as age, deprivation, ethnicity. The NDP allocates funding to support the costs of diabetes clinical lead posts in local health systems, with a key priority to supporting improvement in addressing health inequalities at the local level.


Closed Petition closed 9th February 2024

Require schools teach students about diabetes prevention - Final Signatures: 97

There is a lot of work going into preventing type 2 diabetes. The NHS runs a Diabetes Prevention Programme that identifies people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes and refers them onto a nine-month lifestyle change programme. We want schools to be required to run similar programmes for students.

Found: advertising of unhealthy food that we think more is needed to reduce the risk of people getting type 2 diabetes


Written Question
Diabetes: Eating Disorders
Thursday 18th April 2024

Asked by: Daisy Cooper (Liberal Democrat - St Albans)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether she has received representations from (a) healthcare professionals, (b) patient advocacy groups and (c) local authorities on discontinuing Type 1 diabetes and disordered eating services.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

My Rt hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care engages with a range of external stakeholders, including discussions on Type 1 Diabetes with Disordered Eating (T1DE) services. NHS England is working closely with regional and integrated care board (ICB) level teams to ensure that informed decisions are made about the future provision of T1DE services.

Responsibility for the commissioning of T1DE services sits with the ICBs. It is the role of local ICB decision makers to consider the implications of continuing or discontinuing T1DE services, specific to each location, and including the perspectives of healthcare professionals, patient advocacy groups, and local authorities.


Written Question
Diabetes: Health Services
Tuesday 23rd January 2024

Asked by: Grahame Morris (Labour - Easington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps she is taking to increase the number of people living with diabetes who receive their NICE recommended care processes.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Recovery of routine diabetes care following the pandemic is a key priority for the NHS England Diabetes Programme. Transformation funding between 2020/21 and 2022/23 has supported recovery, as such that rates of routine care delivery are now almost back to the pre-pandemic level. Services in the National Health Service are asked to continue this upward trajectory, with a particular focus on ensuring that people from socio-economically deprived areas receive their annual reviews.

According to the report from the fourth quarter of 2022/23, the percentage of people who received all eight National Institute of Health and Care Excellence recommended care processes in England between January 2022 and March 2023 was 40.5% for type 1 diabetes and 57.8% for type 2/other diabetes, 15.3% and 20.6% higher respectively than the same period in the previous year. The percentages remained slightly lower than prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, where in the fourth quarter of 2019/20, they were 42.3% and 58.5%, respectively.


Written Question
Diabetes: Drugs
Wednesday 21st February 2024

Asked by: Alex Sobel (Labour (Co-op) - Leeds North West)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps her Department is taking to help stop disruption of the supply of (a) Ozempic, (b) Trulicity and (c) similar medicines.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

While the position has improved, there continues to be a global supply issue with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RA), including Trulicity (dulaglutide) and Ozempic (semaglutide). We have issued updated guidance to healthcare professionals in the form of a National Patient Safety Alert on the 3 January 2024, on how to manage patients requiring these medicines.

Our guidance is clear that GLP-1 RAs that are solely licensed to treat type 2 diabetes should only be used for that purpose, and should not be routinely prescribed for weight loss. The General Pharmaceutical Council, General Medical Council, Health and Care Professions Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland have also issued a joint statement stressing the importance of health and care professionals meeting regulatory standards in relation to these medicines.

We know how distressing and frustrating medicine supply issues can be, and the Department will continue to help in ensuring that these critical medicines reach diabetes patients. If any patient is concerned about their treatment, they should discuss this with their clinician at the earliest opportunity.


Written Question
Diabetes: Ethnic Groups
Tuesday 16th January 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to help reduce the prevalence of type 2 diabetes in Black and South Asian communities.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Given the inequalities in who develops Type 2 diabetes and the poorer outcomes for those of south Asian and black ethnicity, the National Health Service has established a focused engagement campaign, using social media and more traditional approaches, to raise awareness and boost uptake from these groups. A Quality and Outcomes Framework also includes an indicator for annual review of those at risk of Type 2 diabetes in general practice.

The NHS Long Term plan has committed to providing a targeted support offer and access to weight management services in primary care is available for people with a diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes and/or hypertension, with a body mass index over 30, which is adjusted appropriately for ethnicity.


Written Question
Diabetes: Drugs
Monday 29th January 2024

Asked by: Peter Gibson (Conservative - Darlington)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what estimate she has made of the number of people with type 2 diabetes impacted by the GLP-1 shortage.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

Information on the number of people impacted by the glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) shortage is not held by the Department. There continues to be a global supply issue with some GLP-1 receptor agonists, but following the Department’s ongoing engagement with manufacturers, NHS England, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency and others operating in the supply chain, the overall supply position has improved, with additional stock being secured to boost availability of these medicines for patients.

We issued updated guidance to healthcare professionals, in the form of a National Patient Safety Alert, on 3 January 2024. This provides advice on how to manage patients requiring these medicines. Our guidance remains clear that GLP-1 receptor agonists that are solely licensed to treat type 2 diabetes should only be used for that purpose and should not be prescribed for weight loss.


Deposited Papers

Jul. 14 2010

Source Page: Table showing count of finished admission episodes where (a) the primary diagnosis was diabetes and where (b) a secondary diagnosis was diabetes for all ages and for ages 65 and over, broken down by primary care trust of residence and England, for 1996/97 to 2008/09. 60 p.
Document: DEP2010-1478.xls (Excel)

Found: Table showing count of finished admission episodes where (a) the primary diagnosis was diabetes and where


Written Question
Diabetes: Health Services
Tuesday 16th January 2024

Asked by: Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi (Labour - Slough)

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to tackle disparities in diabetes care (a) access and (b) treatment for people living in low socioeconomic areas.

Answered by Andrew Stephenson - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

The Government continues to support local authorities to make provision for the NHS Health Check, England’s flagship cardiovascular disease prevention programme.

The programme aims to prevent heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes and kidney disease, and some cases of dementia among adults aged between 40 and 74 years old. Each year, the programme engages over one million people.

A review of the programme in 2021 found that there were higher rates of NHS Health Check attendance among people over 55, women, black African and Asian ethnic groups. Across all ethnic groups, attendance is lowest amongst people in the most deprived decile.

The NHS Long Term Plan committed to providing a weight management services for people with a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes or hypertension and with a body mass index of 30 or higher, adjusted appropriately for ethnicity.

Diabetes is also one of six major groups of conditions that we aim to tackle through the Major Conditions Strategy. The Strategy will set out the supporting and enabling interventions the centre can make to ensure that integrated care systems and the organisations within them maximise the opportunities to tackle clusters of disadvantage in their local areas where they exist. This will include addressing unwarranted variation in outcomes and the care people receive in the context of the recovery from the pandemic.