Survey of diabetes centres 2009

In the 1990s the development of diabetes centres was regarded as one of the major advances in diabetes care. With today's emphasis on service redesign and reconfiguration, this survey set out to explore the role of diabetes centres in the 21st century. The survey found that a minimum standard for the term ‘diabetes centre’ needs to be defined and that out of hours support/access for people with diabetes was limited. Diabetes centres supported high quality multidisciplinary team working and this was facilitated by the team being co-located. Many of the medical consultants had dual roles with acute trusts that included responsibilities for acute medicine, so easy access to acute trusts facilitated effective use of medical time. The future key role for diabetes centres is to be the hub for integration of diabetes services and actively support primary and community diabetes care. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons.