NHS Diabetes has established a network to promote the greater uptake and appropriate use of insulin pumps in line with NICE guidance. It is open to any healthcare professional or organisation in England with an interest in the development or delivery of an insulin pump service to either paediatrics or adults.   

To find out more contact Heather Stephens by emailing heather@innove.info or calling 0161 835 9494.

The challenge

Despite the current established standards such as NICE guidance (TA151) (Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion for the treatment of diabetes mellitus (NICE TA 151, 2008)) and the Diabetes UK ‘Commissioning Specialist Services for Adults with Diabetes’ (Commissioning Specialist Diabetes Services for Adults (Diabetes UK, 2010) document recommending the use of continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (Insulin Pump Therapy)) for the treatment of diabetes, there remains no method for recording or monitoring the commissioning, uptake, or quality of insulin pump services in England. In addition, there is limited opportunity for teams working within this field of diabetes to shape the national direction of pump services, undertake shared learning or offer peer support on the clinical and organisational aspects of pump therapy.

The 2010 NDIS-CSII audit showed that provision of insulin pump therapy in England is patchy, with few centres providing more than 25 pump starts per year (Insulin Pump Audit – Findings for England (NDIS, 2010)).

It has been recognised that further data is required on the numbers numbers of people accessing CSII/CGMS therapy in the UK and the standards of services providing these therapies, so that insulin pump therapy can be provided more widely and appropriately. A UK wide audit, sponsored by ABCD, Diabetes UK and JDRF with support from NICE, has been conducted during June 2012.  

How does the insulin pump network support you?

NHS Diabetes consulted with clinical and non-clinical NHS staff and charity representatives during the Spring of 2012 to inform the development of the Insulin Pump Network. The findings from these scoping exercises can be found in the 'Establishing an Insulin Pump Network: A scoping exercise' report. 

The network was launched in May 2012. The network will provide a  forum to bring together health professionals with a specific interest in insulin pump therapy. The network will allow two-way sharing of good practice, news and developments in this area.

Consultant physician Peter Hammond, from Harrogate and District NHS Foundation Trust, the network’s clinical lead will be working with Heather Stephens, Network Manager supported by Gillian Johnson, NHS Diabetes Programme Manager.

NHS Diabetes will work to support organisations in developing and delivering their services following the outcomes of the audit conducted in June 2012.

Network objectives

The overarching aim of the network is to address the inequality in the access to and  quality and provision of insulin pump services. Specifically, it aims to:

• Promote the appropriate use of insulin pump therapy and support the organisational and educational systems, for patients and staff, required to embed this method of treatment.
  
• Bring together health communities to reduce variation of care and deliver better outcomes for people with diabetes using insulin pumps.
  
• Ensure an effective two-way sharing of the most up-to-date guidance, tools, best practice and resources.
  
• Ensure that those people who would benefit from this are able to access a high quality pump service.
  

How to get involved

To find out more contact Heather Stephens by emailing heather@innove.info or calling 0161 835 9494.