DIABETES CENTRES

Early day motion 409, tabled 6 November 1997 by Desmond Turner (Labour). Signed by 58 members.

That this House notes with pleasure the increased attention given to the treatment of diabetes and the new opportunities for the prevention of its serious complications, most recently recognised by the Government's endorsement of the St Vincent Declaration on Diabetes Care and Research in Europe and the recent Health Service Executive on 14 November, World Diabetes Day; but, while welcoming the greatly increased emphasis on the importance of primary care in the management of diabetes, is concerned that this should not be seen as an alternative to, nor lead to the downgrading of, equally essential specialist locality diabetes centres, which have built up an irreplaceable resource of expertise and experience, offering professional support, training and education to general practice teams, strategic advice on likely locality needs for diabetes to service planners, special services for people with diabetes and facilities for the professional audit and quality improvement of diabetes care and its preventive effectiveness; and therefore asks that the Government take such steps as are necessary to preserve and develop diabetes centres as an essential component of integrated and comprehensive services for the million or more people in the United Kingdom known to have diabetes.

Signatures by party: Labour 43, Liberal Democrat 5, Labour/Co-operative 4, UUP 3, Conservative 2, Plaid Cymru 1.