Effective diabetes care must work as a partnership between medical professionals and patients
You asked GP practices to help fight for better diabetes care, and they listened.
Thanks in part to our Diabetes Voices campaigners taking action, this year more GP practices than ever before helped improve diabetes care by signing up to the National Diabetes Audit (NDA). The NDA checks whether people living with diabetes across England and Wales are getting the care they need, and this information helps improve diabetes care.
In the last year participation in the audit increased very significantly from 57 per cent to 82 per cent. This means we will soon have a much better understanding of where good diabetes care is happening, where improvements still need to be made and how we can change diabetes care for the better.
Diabetes Voice Melissa Flangan, who sits on a NDA board as a patient representative,wrote about the importance of the Audit in a Diabetes UK blog back in July.
"I was really pleased to find that, not only are we treated with respect, but our opinions appear to be listened to and taken on board. It’s really encouraging to see this as I have always thought that effective diabetes care must work as a partnership between medical professionals and patients."
Diabetes UK has been working hard with health care professionals to make sure more GP practices opt in to the Audit. Several months ago dozens of Diabetes Voices got on the phone and asked their GP practice to sign up and help make care better. And clearly GP practices listened.
“We’re delighted to see that more GP Practices are taking part in the audit, and want to give our huge thanks to everyone who helped make this happen,” commented National Diabetes Audit Engagement Manager Laura Fargher. “The National Diabetes Audit helps drive changes that lead to better health outcomes for people living with diabetes, and the more GP practices sign up the more effective it will be.”
There’s always a chance to do better though and next year we’ll be pushing for even more practices to take part in the Audit. On theNational Diabetes Audit webpage you can find out more about the audit, which is carried by Diabetes UK in partnership with NHS Digital.
