Only half of people with diabetes receive all the tests they need, report says

The NHS in England has systematically failed to meet standards for improving care of people with diabetes, and new systems are unlikely to tackle deficiencies without urgent attention, a new report from MPs has concluded.1

The Department of Health’s 2001 national service framework for diabetes established a set of minimum standards for care, and the department also set out treatment targets for the management of blood glucose, blood pressure, and cholesterol, to try to minimise the risk of associated complications.

But the report from the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee, which looked at data concerning people aged 16 or over with a diagnosis of either type 1 or type 2 diabetes, said that although there was a consensus about what was needed, progress had been “depressingly …