Patient experience will help improve diabetic care and support

According to NHS figures there are currently 30,000 people living with diabetes in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin (STW) and the proportion of adults living with the condition is the 16th highest out of 42 areas in England. Furthermore, the rate of people receiving the ‘National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’ (NICE) recommended care processes is the lowest in the country.

This means that organisations within the local Integrated Care System (ICS), including NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin and public health bodies, are looking at ways these services can be improved. As the independent patient champion, Healthwatch Shropshire gathered experiences to ensure that the patient voice is at the heart of efforts to improve services. The Healthwatch Shropshire report is now available  https://www.healthwatchshropshire.co.uk/report/2023-10-30/diabetes-care-and-support 

Lynn Cawley, Chief Officer of Healthwatch Shropshire, told us, “I would like to thank the over 200 people who shared their experiences and suggestions for service improvements. We are really pleased to be working with organisations from the Integrated Care System to ensure that patient experience helps to inform decisions as services change. The report has been shared with the leaders and decision makers and we will be presenting the findings to meetings across the area to ensure the patient voice is at the heart of efforts to improve services.”

Councillor Cecilia Motley, Shropshire Council cabinet member for adult social care, public health and communities and Co-Chair of the Health & Wellbeing Board, said, “Our Public Health Team will work with Healthwatch to ensure that this report and its recommendations is received by the Health and Wellbeing Board in Shropshire, and that as a Board we take ownership of monitoring actions that are agreed. The survey findings are clear; we must do more to work together as a system to improve our care, treatment and support for our residents living with diabetes.”

Dr Syed Gillani, Clinical Lead for Diabetes at NHS Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin, said: “We are currently undertaking a system-wide transformation of the way we provide diabetes care for our residents in Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin. This will include how we support people with diabetes to understand and manage living with their condition on a day-to-day basis.”

“We will use the results of this survey to help inform how we best design these new pathways, with those people with both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes at the heart of our work.”

Healthwatch Shropshire is the independent health and social care champion in Shropshire. It gathers the views and experiences of patients, service users, carers, and the general public about services including hospitals, GPs, mental health services, community health services, pharmacists, opticians, residential care and children’s services.  It also has statutory powers that it can use to influence service provision by encouraging improvements.