With a flourish, the National Diabetes Audit made its annual appearance- and being part of the core audit group, I already knew what was coming.
Messages were hard, stark – and perhaps worryingly, it was actually worse than previous years. I will just concentrate on type 1 diabetes – and it makes pretty sobering reading. About 39 per cent folks getting their basic care processe. if you were under 40, this was down to about 24 per cent, huge variability across CCGs... but to me, the most worrying bit, the sharp decline in reporting from GP surgeries – down from 70 per cent to about 57 per cent.
So in short, not only have the numbers declined, we actually know even less of what's going on, and not surprisingly, folks have reacted in different ways.
Fingers have been pointed at each other; lazy patients not having ownership; lazy GPs not bothering with care; poor communication from hospitals to GPs resulting in poor data transfer... irony?
It's exactly the same debate as last year; or the year before that... or the year before that – you get my drift, the figures have worsened, the debate hasn't moved on. To read more, click here.
Small improvements in blood glucose levels could help the NHS save £5.5 billion and make significant improvements for people with diabetes, according to a study.
Better glucose control could help avoid almost a million serious medical complications associated with diabetes, such as blindness, amputation and kidney failure over 25 years, researchers found. To read more, click here.
Last week, the lovely chirpy folks in the diabetes online community (#doc) took part in the return of the OurDiabetes tweet chat (@OurDiabetes) to discuss a topic that was perhaps a little different from our usual, familiar, cosy chats.
Sex and diabetes.
Admittedly, it was one of the more awkward topics to discuss so openly online, or in my case with my mum watching from her own Twitter account.
Children who are diagnosed with diabetes before the age of seven develop a more aggressive form of the disease than that seen in teenagers, according to new research. To read more, click here.
A woman with type 1 diabetes and a needle phobia has become the first person in the world to have a pancreas transplant because of her fears.
Sue York, from Lincoln, said injecting herself with insulin would make her shake violently and sometimes she would even vomit. To read more, click here.
Human skin cells have successfully been converted into fully functional pancreatic cells, which scientists say could be a major breakthrough for diabetes treatment.
The new cells produced insulin in response to changes in glucose levels. When they were transplanted into mice, the cells protected the animals from developing diabetes in a mouse model of the disease. To read more, click here.
Food manufacturers are being asked to cut the amount of saturated fats, salts and added sugars in their products, according to a survey.
The poll, which was commissioned by leading charity Diabetes UK, said 75 per cent of people who participated wanted their food products to become healthier and 60 per cent have called for clearer labelling. To read more, click here.
Improving standards and reducing variation in diabetes care will be the All-Party Parliamentary Group’s (APPG) focus for 2016, it has been announced.
The theme for the first meeting of the year has been called Setting the Scene: The Patient Experience and will take place on Wednesday, March, 9 at Westminister.
