Diabetes Services
Diabetes mellitus is a condition in which the amount of glucose (sugar) in the blood is too high because the body cannot use it properly.
Diabetes is classified broadly into 2 types:
Type 1 accounts for 20% of diabetes, it tends to occur in young people, almost always requires insulin, and cannot be prevented.
Type 2 accounts for 80% of diabetes, tends to occur in older age group, is linked to genetic predisposition and to overweight/obesity, and can, by adherence to healthy eating and lifestyle, be prevented or significantly modified.
Alarming statistics indicates that while mortality rates from heart disease, stroke and cancer are either decreasing or staying the same, the mortality rate for diabetes is increasing. The epidemic of overweight and obesity is significantly related to the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes and decreasing age of first presentation.
In Brent, the high representation of ethnic groups genetically predisposed to type 2 diabetes produces prevalence rates of diabetes much higher (7-8% in some localities, and nearly 17% overall for those over 60 years of age than the national average of 3-4%.
For the last 5 years the Brent Diabetes Priority Action Group (D-PAG) has worked to develop a new model of care for people with diabetes using national guidelines, local stakeholder analysis and local service-user focus-group work to inform and guide the process. Two key themes consistently emerged: the need for education of service users and service providers, and the desire of service users to have a more user-friendly local delivery of services.
The BECaD project is due to come into operation in March 2006. While some provision has already been made to create and support a new model of care, considerable changes to existing services will be necessary in the next 12 months. more…
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