In April 2013, Health and Wellbeing Boards (HWBs) were established in all (upper-tier or unitary) local authorities. The boards will have an influence over commissioning decisions across health, public health and social care through their responsibility for producing a Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) and Joint Health and Wellbeing Strategy (JHWS).
With the support of Novo Nordisk, we reviewed a targeted selection of JSNAs and JHWSs from 50 Health and Wellbeing Boards.
Many boards have focused on the prevalence of diabetes and the link between obesity and Type 2 diabetes. However, the need to improve management of the condition, solutions to addressing these problems through early diagnosis and the implementation of NICE pathways of care are often absent.
- We found that the assessments undertaken by local authorities and their strategies for delivering service improvements do not always link up.
- Further, over half of boards are failing to translate national guidance into local action including references to national guidelines or approaches in their assessments
- Only one board included information on the National Diabetes Audit in their strategy
- The quality of JSNAs in relation to diabetes varies considerably, and some fail to clearly distinguish between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes
- Some individual boards are giving no prominence to diabetes at all, which is a concern given the rising number of people with the condition.
Recommendations
- Health and Wellbeing Boards should include references in their JSNAs to national guidance on prevention and early diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes and management of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, such as NICE quality standards and public health guidance, and assess how this guidance is being implemented locally.
- JSNAs should also include data from the National Diabetes Audit (NDA) to describe the local situation with regard to diabetes and to inform their strategies and to identify where they should be focusing locally to improve diabetes care.
What next
Diabetes UK is working with a selection of Health and Wellbeing Boards to design tools and resources to support and inform the development of strategies to reduce diabetes prevalence and diabetes-related complications and to improve the clinical and cost effectiveness of diabetes care.
Download Review of JSNAs and Health and Wellbeing Strategies (PDF, 877KB)