Shortage of inpatient diabetes staff highlighted

The number of individuals working in inpatient diabetes care is significantly lower than the optimal number needed by most hospital Trusts, a new study has revealed.

In response to the shortage, the Joint British Diabetes Societies (JBDS) for Inpatient Care Group has developed a new Excel calculator to predict staffing needs of any hospital site.

The organisation carried out a study for specialist inpatient diabetes teams which reviewed the staffing and the perception of ideal staffing throughout the UK. The JBDS sent out a survey to mailing lists from representative organisations.

A total of 30 hospital sites from across 17 of the NHS Trusts responded to the survey and the responses were confirmed by one-to-one conversations with the respondents and were then discussed in expert-group meetings.

The study results revealed: “Current diabetes specialist staffing level per 100 people with diabetes in hospital (Median, IQR) for consultants was 0.24 (0.22–0.37), diabetes inpatient specialist nurses was 1.94 (1.22–2.6), dieticians was 0.00 (0.00–0.00), podiatrists was 0.19 (0.00–0.62), pharmacists was 0.00 (0.00–0.37), psychologists was 0.00 (0.00–0.00).

“The teams also reported that for optimal care the total staff needed for each group (Median, IQR) was much higher; consultants 0.65 (0.50–0.88), specialist nurses 3.38 (2.78–4.59), dieticians 0.48 (0.33–0.72), podiatrists, 0.93 (0.65–1.24), pharmacists, 0.65 (0.40–0.79) and psychologists 0.33 (0.27–0.58).”

The study is now available here.