Written
evidence from Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (CFI 04)
1. ABOUT JDRF
Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) is the
world's leading charitable funder of type 1 diabetes research
and exists to find a cure for type 1 diabetes and its complications.
For 40 years we have been fundamentally involved in the delivery
of advances in this field: seeking out, assessing and monitoring
the best science to drive the breakthroughs that improve management
of type 1 diabetes and will ultimately cure the condition.
2. ABOUT TYPE
1 DIABETES
— It
is estimated that 325,000 adults and over 25,000 children in the
UK have type 1 diabetes.
— Type
1 diabetes is a chronic, life threatening condition that occurs
when the body's immune system attacks insulin producing cells
in the pancreas.
— A normal,
healthy body will regulate blood glucose using insulin. In someone
with type 1 diabetes, blood sugar can go too high or too low because
there is insufficient or no insulin to control it. Insulin is
the hormone that transfers glucose from the bloodstream into the
cells to be used for energy.
— Type
1 diabetes is usually diagnosed in childhood (the peak age for
diagnosis is between 8-12) and once you are diagnosed you live
with the condition for the rest of your life.
— Unlike
type 2 diabetes, type 1 diabetes not linked in any way to being
overweight, lack of exercise or other lifestyle factors.
— People
with the condition rely on a programme of finger prick blood sugar
tests and insulin pump infusions or injections up to 10 times
a day in order to stay alive. Whilst these prolong life, they
are not the cure.
3. COMMISSIONING
TYPE 1 DIABETES
SERVICES
3.1 Type 1 diabetes is long-term condition that
requires lifelong specialist care. Over the course of their lives,
people with type 1 diabetes will be required to engage with a
range of healthcare professionals and other specialist services
in order to manage their condition successfully.
3.2 There are approximately 350,000 people with
the UK with type 1 diabetes, about 25,000 of which are children.
The number of people with type 1 diabetes on individual practice
registers is therefore likely to be very small and even at consortia
level it is unlikely to be of a sufficient volume to commission
some specialist services efficiently and effectively. Not all
GP consortia will have the skills, specialist knowledge or experience
necessary to commission the range of services that a person with
type 1 diabetes requires. This is particularly pertinent with
regard to paediatric care. Many primary care providers are simply
not aware of the appropriate care pathways for people with type
1 diabetes.
3.3 Type 1 diabetes presents as a complex set
of medical, practical and emotional problems. Careful clinical
and emotional support delivered by a specialist multidisciplinary
team is the key to successful management of type 1 diabetes and
the reduction in incidence of long term complications of the condition,
thus saving the NHS money in the future.
3.4 JDRF believes that type 1 diabetes should
be treated as a specialist service and commissioned at the national
level through the NHS Commissioning Board. Commissioning these
services at the national level will ensure that people with type
1 diabetes receive the best and most appropriate care for their
condition, something that we believe may not be guaranteed by
all GP consortia.
3.5 JDRF also believes that children and young
people with type 1 diabetes should be treated by a specialist
paediatric diabetes team so that they can receive appropriate
care and support to treat their condition and to reduce the risk
of emergency hospital admissions and serious long-term complications.
February 2011
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