12 September 2018
The 2016-17 NDA specialist service report showed that for people with Type 1 diabetes a HbA1c 58mmol/mol (7.5%) was achieved by 20% in some services but up to 40% in others.
During May and June 2018 specialist services with more than 500 Type 1 patients and the highest achievement HbA1c target achievement rates were asked to identify factors that they believed contributed to their success.
Responses were received from two thirds of the of the specialist Type 1 services with the greatest proportion of patients achieving HbA1c<58mmol/mol. They identified a number of themes that they believe contribute to their relative success.
All responding services mentioned:
- Committment to Type 1 care
- Desire to do better
- Dedicated Pump clinics
- Importance of structured education
At least 50% of responding services mentioned:
- Type 1 service DSN training and rotation
- Dedicated medical staff for type 1 care
- Psychology service availability
- Integration with community services
- MDT working style
- Advice/support available via phone/email/Skype
- CGMS and/or Diasend
The report highlighted reducing the wide disparities between services and recommending sucess factors to specialist Type 1 services to consider when delivering care.
