A joint NHS Diabetes and Diabetes UK working group has launched a report ‘Emotional and Psychological Support and Care in Diabetes’. In practice, there are major gaps in the provision of emotional and psychological care to people with diabetes. Evidence from the Diabetes UK member survey indicates that people with diabetes want and need access to emotional and psychological support and care but are not always able to access appropriate services.
The recommendations in this report cover commissioning, workforce planning, service delivery, policy and research. Taken together, they challenge and encourage everyone involved in diabetes care to seek a transformation of diabetes services such that emotional and psychological needs are recognised as essential to the wellbeing of people with diabetes and vital to their self-management and long term physical health.