Diabetes - residential care

The Diabetes UK guidelines for care home residents, published  in 2010, state that people over 45 years of age with diabetes are twice as likely to be admitted to nursing homes as those without diabetes. The guideline document also points out the susceptibility of residents with diabetes to infections or macrovascular complications and increased hospitalisation rates see Diabetes UK: Good clinical practice guidelines for care home residents with diabetes.

See also older people.

The resources below were last accessed on 31 October 2012. Some of them are in PDF format – see how to access PDF files.

Diabetes UK (2010) Good clinical practice guidelines for care home residents with diabetes: a revision document prepared by a task and finish group of Diabetes UK
This updates the guidance published by the British Diabetic Association in 1999. It brings together the evidence base and the experiences of the multidisciplinary task and finish group to provide recommendations and guidance on many different aspects of diabetes care in a care home setting. The guidelines provide a framework for assessing the quality of diabetes care within care homes by the appropriate regulatory bodies. Ways in which the effectiveness of care can be monitored are discussed and an audit tool is to be made available.

Diabetes UK (2010) Information for carers of people with diabetes in the care home setting
These pages on the Diabetes UK website are designed to provide users with information about older people with diabetes in the care home setting. The information is based on the ‘Good clinical practice guidelines for care home residents’ published by Diabetes UK in 2010. The pages include information on food and nutrition, activity, hypoglycaemia in elderly people and specific care for elderly people.

Guidelines and Audit Implementation Network (2010) Guidelines and clinical standards of care for people with diabetes in care homes (PDF 225.70KB)
These guidelines published by GAIN in Northern Ireland set out four minimum standards of care for residents with diabetes in care homes, and provide accompanying guidance on different aspects of this care. The four standards will be subject to audit across Northern Ireland.

NHS Diabetes (2011) Knowledge and information guide: Homes, hospices and the housebound
The purpose of the knowledge and information repository (KIR) is to provide easily accessible summaries of the latest guidance and important research relating to specific key topics. This summarises knowledge and information from guidelines, research and commissioning tools.

NHS Diabetes: Audit of care home diabetes care starts
This national initiative, the first ever Care Home Diabetes Audit, is being led by the Institute of Diabetes for Older People and the Association of British Clinical Diabetologists, with the support of groups including the Royal College of Nursing and Diabetes UK. Care homes owners are being encouraged to take part in the survey to examine current diabetes procedures and practices, and to inform the development of future quality standards that could be used by the Care Quality Commission.

See other specific contexts and populations.