SA JOURNAL OF DIABETES & VASCULAR DISEASE
REVIEW
VOLUME 7 NUMBER 3 • SEPTEMBER 2010
105
National Diabetes Information Service offers support
Bob Young
Introduction
T
he National Diabetes Information Service (NDIS)
1
has been
established to support everyone involved in diabetes care. Led
by the NHS Information Centre for Health and Social Care, its
initial aim is to maximise the value that can be yielded from existing
data sources about diabetes. In the longer term, it will also support
the generation of useful new data about diabetes. Its intention is
to bring these data sources together in such a way as to deliver
benefit.
A fundamental objective is to minimise the need to collect
additional data separately. Instead, the aim will always be to
utilise, where it is available, information that is routinely recorded
in everyday clinical practice. NDIS believes that if the burden of
data collection can be minimised and the reports made relevant
to all stakeholders, a valuable new dimension can be added to the
delivery of diabetes care and the experience of diabetes care.
Very importantly, NDIS aims to create products that are of
value to everyone. There will be reports for people with diabetes,
primary care providers of diabetes care and diabetes specialists,
commissioners of diabetes care, regulators of diabetes care and
health policy makers.
Partners in NDIS
NDIS was launched at the end of November 2008 at the inaugural
meeting of the partnership board. Its composition reflects the
numerous existing sources of data about diabetes and the breadth
of key stakeholders who need to use information about diabetes.
The partnership board is chaired by the National Clinical Director
for Diabetes, Rowan Hillson. The Department of Health Policy Team
and NHS Diabetes are both represented. The NHS Information
Centre, which is responsible for such important sources of data
as the National Diabetes Audit
2
, Quality and Outcomes Framework
data, and Healthcare Population Deprivation data, is a key member.
The Yorkshire and Humber Public Health Observatory
3
has,
for some years, had a pivotal role in the provision of information
about diabetes care to the NHS. Diabetes E is an electronic service
self-assessment tool that is being used by more than 70% of local
health economies to help them work towards comprehensive
delivery of the Diabetes National Service Framework. It is another
key data partner in NDIS.
Diabetes UK,
4
as well as being an advocate for people with
diabetes and providing an important representation on the
partnership board of people with diabetes is also, via its regular
Primary Care Trust (PCT) progress surveys, an important source of
information and another data contributor to NDIS. The National
Diabetic Retinopathy Screening Programme is also a partner. Other
stakeholders represented include the Royal Colleges of General
Practitioners, physicians and nurses, Association of British Clinical
Diabetologists (ABCD), dietitians and podiatrists.
The partnership board is responsible for setting the agenda and
monitoring progress, and for ensuring that all the stakeholders
are fully able to participate. This board is backed up by an expert
reference group drawn from clinical, information and managerial
experts in diabetes across the country. The Expert Reference
Group comprises consultant diabetologists, general practitioners,
diabetes specialist nurses, diabetes specialist dietitians, diabetes
specialist podiatrists, NHS Diabetes Regional Programme managers,
commissioners, and informaticians.
NDIS operates mostly by commissioning tasks from others using
joint funding from NHS Diabetes
5
and the NHS Information Centre.
There are presently two part-time personnel coordinating the work
of NDIS: Margaret Baldock, the programme manager, and Bob
Young, the clinical lead.
NDIS projects already underway
For local diabetes network management and
commissioners
Diabetes is a classic long-term condition that needs to be managed
across all the traditional NHS care boundaries. Groups trying to
provide integrated care in a local health economy and commissioners
of diabetes care have long required overview information to support
their endeavours. The diabetes commissioning toolkit developed by
NHS Diabetes (formerly National Diabetes Support Team – NDST)
includes a very comprehensive framework for this.
By bringing together information from the National Diabetes
Audit, Yorkshire and Humber Public Health Observatory
(YHPHO), the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF), health
episode statistics, Diabetes E, Diabetes UK, and the Healthcare
Commission, a comprehensive report that covers all of the Diabetes
Commissioning Toolkit framework can be produced using existing
data. It is hoped that this will become a service by the middle of
2009. The web interface will not only allow local health economies
to review their own reports, but will also allow them to compare
themselves with similar health economies throughout England.
Diabetes patient experience project
Diabetes is not just about the clinical outcomes of care but it is also
about the experience of care. Good quality care optimises both.
A project is underway to develop easy-to-use methods to enable
people to express their views on the diabetes care they are receiving
that could be replicated in any health economy.
For specialist care providers
Diabetes inpatient care has belatedly been recognised as requiring
targeted additional input. Information to support this will be
provided by NDIS reports that illustrate the number of people
admitted to hospital who have diabetes, the reasons for their
admission, the length of stay as compared to similar patients
Correspondence to: Bob Young
Clinical Lead for the National Diabetes Information Service at the NHS Infor-
mation Centre for Health and Social Care, 1 Trevelyan Square, Boar Lane,
Leeds, LS1 6AE, UK.
S Afr J Diabetes Vasc Dis
2010;
7
: 105–106
