The Welsh Government has today published the refreshed Diabetes Delivery Plan for Wales.
This was published under the 2016 to 2021 administration of the Welsh Government
In Wales, over seven per cent of the population aged 17 or over live with diabetes, with prevalence being higher in areas of greatest deprivation and amongst minority ethnic communities and this number is predicted to rise.
The plan aims to reduce the rate of increase in diabetes and also the chance of people with diabetes developing serious complications from poorly controlled diabetes, such as heart disease, stroke and amputation.
The plan has a clear focus on enabling services to meet national standards of care and deliver services which meet the individual needs of the person with diabetes. The approach also seeks to support people with diabetes to successfully manage their condition.
To support the delivery of the plan, Health Secretary Vaughan Gething has allocated £1 million per year to be allocated to the diabetes implementation group, whose role it is to support health boards in Wales to deliver service improvement for those with diabetes. The National Clinical Lead for diabetes will continue to work across Wales with health boards to fully implement the plan.
The plan also highlights the importance of quick identification of diabetes and prompt treatment. This is especially important for children and young people with Type 1 diabetes - one of the most common, non-preventable, chronic diseases in childhood.
Health Secretary Vaughan Gething said:
“The increasing number of people developing Type 2 diabetes, combined with the length of time for which people potentially live with the disease, is undoubtedly going to increase pressure on our health service in the future.
“The updated delivery plan, published today, sets out our vision for diabetes services and describes how the health service in Wales will respond to that challenge. Success in delivering the plan will be dependent on strong collaborative working between all those responsible for diabetes care and empowering people with diabetes to manage their condition as best they can.
“We have seen notable improvements over the past three years and this updated plan will build on that and support service improvement through to 2020.”