TYPE 1 Diabetic transition care is ranked inadequate across numerous NHS trusts in a report done by the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Diabetes.
The Diabetic transition period from paediatric care to adult services is still ranked as insufficient across the NHS.
The report states that the problems faced by young patients are delays in care, sporadic appointments, no contact with specialist teams, increased post transition hospitalisation and patient dissatisfaction with the transition experience. This increases the danger that young people with diabetes disengage with statutory support services.
The condition affects over 31,000 young people under the age of 19 in the UK. The transition period is considered vital in teaching young people how to manage and control their Diabetes independently so they can prevent expensive complications in later life.
Conditions such as cardiovascular disease, amputation, blindness and kidney failure can unfortunately occur with poor control. These avoidable conditions cost the NHS £7.7 billion every year.
Hannah Jane, 24, from Bury says: “The transition care I had was incredibly poor, I was initially put in a type 2 diabetic clinic and it took months to transfer me over. This meant I didn’t have any appointments at all, the uncertainty caused my blood sugar control to become worse,” she continued to say:
“I never saw the same doctor twice and it took three years to eventually get one who offered me the support I needed, I felt so alone at the time, it felt like I had been thrown in at the deep end with no one to turn to.”
These changes in follow up care lead to Hannah being hospitalised several times during her initial year in adult service.
Hannah is one of thousands of diabetics to fall through the cracks and experience the severe effects that inadequate continuity of transition of care has on young people.
Diabetic specialist nurse Claire O’Connor says: “This period for a young Diabetic is crucial and can shape their condition negatively for the future. Without the right support the transition, adult services can be daunting and young people can disengage from their Diabetes and consequently take up to 25 years off their life through the complications that can be caused with bad management.
The current system is failing thousands of young people and improvements are crucial, we cannot let these young people fall through the cracks and not get the care they vitally need”
The Government has pledged to put more money into Diabetic services to improve continuity care, by introducing specialist’s diabetic teams and new programmes such as the DAFNE course (Dose Adjustment Normal Eating) in hope to improve the transition care for young people and cut the cost of expensive readmission. The plans also want to help stop the frustration caused and help diabetic patients with their confidence and self-esteem around the management of their health.
At a time when most NHS England health trusts envisage a tightening of government funding it is worrying that the future health of diabetic young people in England may not take priority.
For more information on diabetes in the UK Visit this page;
https://magic.piktochart.com/output/18514289-diabetes-in-the-uk
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