Scotland to receive cash boost for diabetes care

Scotland's health minister has called on its NHS boards to start making diabetes a priority and to implement the Scottish Diabetes Framework.
Malcolm Chisholm used last Friday's Diabetes in Scotland Conference 2002 to announce a £1.55m investment to enable further service development over the next three years in line with the Scottish Diabetes Framework.
The Framework aims to improve treatment and care for diabetes, prevent the predicted diabetes 'epidemic' of one in 25 Scots being affected by the end of the decade and tackle diabetes-related health problems.
Mr Chisholm said local health boards should start taking diabetes seriously: 'I am pleased to see progress in several of the provisions contained within the framework, such as a national screening programme for diabetic retinopathy, but if we are to ensure lasting improvements in diabetes care, NHS boards must make it a priority when considering the usage for their increased resources. This includes the setting up of Managed Clinical Networks for diabetes.'
The £1.55m will be given in allocations of £300,000 in 2002-03, £700,000 in 2003-04 and £550,000 in 2004-05.
A new research project to find out why people with diabetes lose their vision was launched last week, to coincide with World Diabetes Day.
Despite diabetes being the leading cause of blindness in the UK, the exact causes of diabetic retinopathy, that affects up to 10 per cent of diabetics, remains unknown.
The three-year study will investigate the pathogenesis of retinal blood vessel dysfunction and death during diabetic retinopathy, by examining how the retina uses oxygen.
Medical charity Action Research and pharmaceutical and healthcare giant GlaxoSmithKline are funding the study, based at the Department of Ophthalmology at Belfast's Royal Victoria Hospital.