Healthier Lives, a Public Health England campaign, has published an interactive heat map that shows inconsistencies in treatment for sufferers of diabetes compared to the national average. The data allows people to see how their local authority, Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and GP surgery are performing.
The Hospital Caterers Association responded to this news by stating that they will continue their work with the British Dietetic Association (BDA) in relation to what the HCA offer and serve patients, utilising BDA Digest as their guide. Andy Jones, chairman of the HCA has reiterated his call for certain items that are ‘loaded’ with sugars to be removed from shop shelves and stated energy drinks should be sold only to over 18s and not at all within the NHS.
When asked for his reaction to the inconsistencies in treatment for diabetes sufferers, Andy Jones responded: “An emerging concern is that healthcare staff are equally as guilty of making poor food and lifestyle choices and becoming overweight (with related health risks) as the rest of us! I wish to see all HCA members use the traffic light system to show calories, fats and sugars on menus within their staff and visitor restaurants and coffee shops.”
Andy Jones (pictured left) also said: “What does concern me is the government’s lack of response to what we have known for years as it is one of the fastest growing diseases in the UK. This again shows that instead of being reactive the NHS needs to focus on the preventative.
He added: “We have for a long time supported that ‘Food is the best form of medicine’ and this is so true in regards of diabetes. We would fully support the claims and will certainly keep pushing for standards to be raised. Why not a two yearly check for all? I agree that the words seem easy and the logistics and cost would not be so easy, but surely it would ensure raised standards and not a lottery?”
Secretary of State for Health, Jeremy Hunt said: “We know that diabetes can have a devastating impact on people and we want everybody to get excellent care and support, regardless of where they live.”
However, Barbara Young, Chief Executive of Diabetes UK, was sceptical of the government’s response: “We would like to think these new figures would act as a spur for the NHS and the government to set out urgently how they intend to improve diabetes healthcare. But this is just the latest in a long line of statistics that show that diabetes healthcare is hugely geographically variable and in many places is not good enough. The public deserve more than politicians and NHS leaders wringing their hands about it but then failing to do anything meaningful to try to fix it.”
Heat map: http://healthierlives.phe.org.uk/