Good clinical practice guidelines for care home residents with diabetes: an executive summary

A Task and Finish Group of Diabetes UK was convened over 14 months to undertake a systematic review of the original 1999 British Diabetic Association guidance on care home diabetes, incorporate new research findings and produce a set of recommendations that are evidenced-based, practical and implementable within UK care home settings. The anticipation of Diabetes UK is that these guidelines will represent a national policy of good clinical practice for diabetes care within care homes. This executive summary demonstrates how the full guidelines should provide a framework of assessment of the quality of diabetes care within care homes, for use by regulatory bodies who have responsibility for this provision of diabetes care. This document is primarily based on recommendations for adults living within British care home environments and its focus, by virtue of the nature and characteristics of residents, is on older adults. Improvements in diabetes care within residential and nursing homes are likely to follow a sustained commitment by health and social care professionals to ensure that the well-being of residents with diabetes is paramount, that high-quality policies of diabetes care are implemented and monitored and effective diabetes education is a mandatory and integral part of care home staff training.