A specialty in crisis

Around half of diabetes specialist nurses are expected to retire in the next decade, and one third of hospitals now have no specific diabetes inpatient specialist nurses. Yet the NHS is not recruiting enough of these clinicians to keep pace with the growing numbers diagnosed with diabetes – now increasing by more than 100,000 annually.

The 2014 analysis titled Diabetes specialist nurses: improving patient outcomes and reducing costs, sets out evidence that diabetes specialist nurses (DSNs) can reduce the risk of health complications, which account for 80% of the £10 billion the NHS spends on diabetes. It warns that the profession is in crisis and the future of DSNs is now in doubt. The report is published by Diabetes UK, the RCN and the working group Training, Research and Education for Nurses on Diabetes (TREND-UK).

‘DSNs are the lynchpin of quality diabetes care,’ says Diabetes UK chief executive