The challenge

People with diabetes account for 15 per cent of inpatients in England – and over one third experience at least one medication error while in hospital. Patients with diabetes admitted for routine surgery stay on average 2.6 days longer than those without.  It is estimated that prolonged stays in hospital among people with diabetes result in about 80,000 bed days per year.

How is NHS Diabetes supporting you?

NHS Diabetes is at the forefront of service improvement in diabetes inpatient care. We are supporting better inpatient care and reduced length of stay and preparation for discharge, with a focus on health economic analysis to highlight excess spend on diabetes inpatient care.

Our work includes:

• The National Diabetes Inpatient Audit has been a major success, providing the evidence for improvements to diabetes care all over England. The survey is a snapshot audit of inpatient diabetes care. It was launched by NHS Diabetes and is now managed by the NHS Information Centre
• Building on the pioneering National Diabetes Inpatient Audit, NHS Diabetes is continuing to drive up quality in diabetes hospital care by launching the new National Inpatient Network.
• A commissioning guide (PDF 295KB) for inpatient diabetes care has also been published by NHS Diabetes. The guide includes an intervention map detailing all of the elements needed for the service as well as a contracting framework and service specification template. It supports our commissioning approach which offers a step-by-step guide in how to deliver high quality, efficient and cost effective diabetes services.