Data tool calculates benefits of employing more DISNs
A data tool has been developed by the GIRFT team to help trusts and systems in England to calculate the benefits of employing diabetes inpatient specialist nurses (DISNs).
The easy-to-use tool – created by GIRFT and co-badged by the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists (ABCD) and Diabetes UK – calculates the return on investment (ROI) if trusts were to invest in employing more DISN nurses.
Calculations in the tool are based on the number of inpatient beds in each individual hospital and the percentage of inpatients with diabetes who require DISN support.
The tool shows how many nurses are required to create a seven-day service, what those nurses would cost to employ, and the associated bed days saved and other notional financial opportunities of recruiting additional DISNs, factoring in time spent on audit, administration, and staff and patient education.
Each hospital is attributed an ROI figure, demonstrating the benefits of investment; the English average is around 2.5, meaning for every £100,000 a hospital invests, there is a financial opportunity of £250,000.
This figure does not take into account the additional benefits in terms of patient experience, reduced harm and the potential costs of litigation.
The tool also features an additional tab allowing trusts to adjust the number of patients actually seen by its diabetes nurses to reflect local data.
Up to 20 per cent of all hospital beds are occupied by patients with diabetes, although the vast majority are admitted for other conditions and illnesses.
Studies consistently show that people with diabetes stay longer in hospital, and have increased morbidity and mortality compared to those without diabetes.
The GIRFT national report for diabetes (2020) recommended that all trusts should have a dedicated multi-disciplinary inpatient diabetes team to help reduce inpatient harm and length of stay. DISNs form the core of that team.
The DISN ROI tool utilises recent work by the Joint British Diabetes Society (JBDS) and the DISN UK group to develop a tool for trusts to calculate the number of DISNs required for their organisation.
That data combined with data from the Model Health System are pulled together in the GIRFT tool to calculate the ROI.
Professor Gerry Rayman, GIRFT’s joint clinical lead for diabetes
Professor Gerry Rayman, GIRFT’s joint clinical lead for diabetes, said: “We know that employing DISNs has consistently been shown to reduce inpatient harms and reduce length of stay for people with diabetes – this tool allows teams to clearly demonstrate the productivity benefits of creating a fully-staffed DISN team.
“We strongly recommend that trusts use this tool to determine the potential benefit to their organisation, alongside Model Hospital System metrics to examine their current length of stay and readmissions, to help improve the care of those patients with diabetes who come through their doors.”
To access the tool, click here.