At the very last meeting in public of the South Reading CCG Governing Body a public question probed one of the areas where the CCG is thought to have made real advances - Diabetes. In our view this is an area where clinical leadership has proved more effective than previous forms of organisation. Here is their answer:
2. Diabetes has been a focus of South Reading CCG. How far have we come and how far have we still to go?
GP Practices have been working hard to improve the outcomes for patients with both Type 1 and Type 2 by improving their blood pressure, cholesterol and blood glucose measurements specifically.
We were fortunate to receive around £500,000 in investment from NHS England in 2017/18 which has helped drive improvements in the management of people with Diabetes. This
funding has allowed us to develop new community based "complex "clinics, with the first clinic taking place in December 2017 at Melrose House , with further clinics booked , including one at Milman Road Surgery. These clinics have a multi-disciplinary specialist clinical team (consisting of diabetic specialist nurses, dieticians and community diabetologist consultant) working together to review patients who have Type 1 diabetes who might benefit from this specialist approach.
GP Practices and staff are being supported to access further training to improve how they work together with patients who have Diabetes and other long term conditions, and jointly identify plans and goals. This will help patients to have more knowledge to support them in managing their conditions, and also help to reduce the number of times patients attend multiple appointments, if this can be more streamlined.
In addition patients can be referred to a wider selection of education courses which help them better understand how to live with and manage their diabetes. We have commissioned a new Carbaware course.
We have also been able to provide 7 day support for people with Diabetes who are admitted to Royal Berkshire Hospital through an increase in access to Diabetes specialist nurses within the hospital setting.
On the whole achievement of desired treatment targets in Diabetes has improved for patients with Type 2 Diabetes, however further work needs to be done to improve attainment of cholesterol measures and the results for people with Type 1 Diabetes.