Caring for the growing numbers of people with diabetes is one of the biggest challenges in healthcare as “diabetes is the largest contributor to healthcare cost and reduced life expectancy in Europe.”  The number of people living in the UK with diabetes is expected to rise to 4.2 million people by 2030, affecting almost 9% of the population. Poorly treated, diabetes can lead to other conditions including heart disease, vision problems, kidney disease and foot complications.     

However, with the right treatment and care, people can live a healthy life with much less risk of complications. Personalised care that is delivered across primary care, community services and hospital settings is key and sharing information to support joined up care is vital.  

PRSB has been commissioned by NHS England and NHS Improvement to produce standards for sharing diabetes information between people and professionals across all care settings, that includes self-reported data from the increasing number of digital tools available for self-management and medical technology (e.g. glucose monitors) to support remote patient monitoring.  

PRSB held two focus groups this month with professionals and patients to understand their concerns and views about the information sharing challenges they face. PRSB will be developing draft standards to test with professionals, patients, carers and systems and technology suppliers in the coming weeks and if you would like to find out more about this project and take part in it please contact us at info@theprsb.org.