The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) launch a new approach to the care of people living with diabetes

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) have launched it’s standards documents on care planning.

NHS Diabetes was closely involved in the Year of Care programme that has played a part in the development of this work.  

Gillian Johnson, Programme Manager for NHS Diabetes, has been integral in the development of the care planning approach and has delivered care planning training across the country through work within the Year of Care Project.

Care Planning – Improving the Lives of People with Long Term Conditions focuses on people with long term physical health problems and provides guidance to help GPs and their teams better support such patients in gaining more control over their health and improving the quality of their lives. It moves the focus from the clinician “doing”, to the clinician “enabling” the patient to manage the challenges of their own condition, fully supported by their GP surgery.

People with Long Term Conditions (LTCs) account for more than 50% of all general practice appointments, 65% of outpatient appointments and over 70% of inpatient bed days, amounting to 70% of the total health and social care spend in England. The RCGP claims that incorporating the model of ‘care planning’ into daily general practice will not only improve the health outcomes and wellbeing of patients but will save the NHS time and money by reducing hospital admissions,  A&E attendance and medication expenditure.

RCGP Vice Chair Professor Nigel Mathers, who led the production of the guidance, said: “Patients tell us that they want us to do more to support their own self-care. Over 90% of people with Long Term Conditions say they are interested in being more active ‘self managers’ and over 75% would feel more confident about self management if they had help from a healthcare professional or peer. Despite this, many people with LTCs have limited knowledge of, or influence over, their care.

“For GPs, Care Planning means more time to provide their care and services where they are needed more acutely. It improves communication and changes the doctor-patient relationship into a doctor-patient partnership.”

Dr Sue Roberts, Clinical Lead, Diabetes UK ‘Year of Care’ Programme, said: “People from a wide variety of backgrounds surveyed in the Year of Care pilot programme quickly noticed care planning was a better way to do things; they were empowered to make healthy changes to their daily lives because they felt more in control, understood more about their condition and could decide what was right for their circumstances. Pilot practices reported they would not be going back to the ‘old ways’.”

Gillian Johnson is currently in the process of establishing a national NHS Diabetes Care Planning Network to support the Diabetes NICE Quality Standards that feature care planning and supported self management.  Updates will feature on the NHS Diabetes website as they become available. 

For more information on the work of the RCGP please see their website here.