NHS Mandate pledges diabetes support and more funding

This article was taken from: http://diabetestimes.co.uk/nhs-mandate-pledges-diabetes-support-and-more-funding/

By Editor

A commitment to improve the management and care of people with diabetes and an extra £2.8 billion in funding has been laid out in the recently published NHS Mandate.

The document, which sets out the government’s objectives for NHS England, has stated the health service’s additional funding now takes the total to over half a trillion pounds from 2015 to 2020.

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Jeremy Hunt said the extra money comes with a “clear responsibility for the NHS to minimise waste and make best use of its resources”.

The issue of diabetes and other health-related conditions were mentioned in the document. On page 10, it said: “The escalating demands of ill health driven by our lifestyles also threaten the long-term sustainability of the NHS.”Embedding prevention is therefore crucial to improving and lengthening lives, reducing health inequalities, and to reducing avoidable demand for NHS services.”

The mandate continued: “We ask NHS England to lead a step-change in the NHS on helping people to live healthier lives by tackling obesity and preventable illness. In particular, this includes contributing to the Government’s goal to reduce child obesity and doing more to reach the five million people at high risk of diabetes and improve the management and care of people with diabetes.”

NHS England has also been set objectives to meet with clear priority deliverables for 2018-19 in a bid to measure the performance of the health service

It is hoped the majority of the goals will be achieved in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS Improvement and other health bodies such as Public Health England, Health Education England, the Care Quality Commission and NHS Digital

Page 14 of the document laid out some of the targets, which included the pledge that by July 2018, the results of the CCG improvement and assessment framework for 2017-18 would be published.

The document said: “This will continue to include independent assessment of CCG performance for each of cancer, dementia, maternity, mental health, learning disabilities and diabetes.

“With NHS Improvement, ensure commissioners and providers deliver their 2018-19 operational plans, which will deliver year two of locally agreed STPs.”

In terms of obesity, diabetes and prevention over all goals that must be met by 2020 include:

• Measurable reduction in child obesity as part of the Government’s childhood obesity plan.16
• A total of 100,000 people supported to reduce their risk of diabetes through the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme.
• Measurable reduction in variation in the management and care for people with diabetes, including improving the achievement of the NICE recommended treatment targets whilst driving down variation between CCGs.
• With support from Public Health England, contribute to the reduction of preventable illness and associated hospital admissions through the implementation of tangible, preventative interventions in the NHS.

But the objectives that must be met by 2018-19 include:

• Deliver NHS England’s contribution to the Government’s childhood obesity plan in 2018-19.
• At least 60,000 people referred to the Diabetes Prevention Programme.
• Fund, and deliver with Public Health England, a programme from April 2017 to March 2019, that will support the implementation of identified preventative interventions at scale by the NHS, in collaboration with local health and care partners.