MP Urges Constituents to Participate in Groundbreaking Online Health Consultation

Britain's 1.8 million people with diabetes are getting the opportunity to feed into a new consultation with a view to influencing the future of their diabetes services. The groundbreaking online consultation brings together policy makers, patients and carers to seek opinions on experiences of diabetes care and how the targets in the National Service Framework for Diabetes are being met.

Parmjit Singh Gill MP added his support to the campaign in Westminster by signing EDM 350, which welcomed the online consultation.

Diabetes in the UK:

§ 1.8 million people in the UK are known to have diabetes.

§ That's about 3 in every 100 people!

§ There are an estimated 1 million people who have diabetes but don't know it.

Following a visit to the Ar Razi Medical Centre in Leicester South to publicize the consultation, Parmjit said:

"Considerable progress has been made in services for people with diabetes, but it's vital that Government and the NHS hears from a cross section of people so that services are developed around the people who use them. The involvement and engagement of people from Leicester South with diabetes, health professionals and other stakeholders is vital to the continued improvement of services and delivery of NSF targets."

Parmjit added:

"We must ensure patients' needs are heard. This initiative enables Parliament, Government and the NHS to connect with grassroots opinions, so that we know what works well and the areas that need further development. I urge all everyone to engage in this consultation at www.tellparliament.net/diabetes, where they have until the end of January to participate. I look forward to learning about the finding s and sincerely hope that as many people as possible will engage in this exciting and innovative exercise"

ENDS

Notes to Editors

1. The consultation was launched on 8th December at HM Treasury by the Health Minister, Rosie Winterton MP and Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Diabetes, Adrian Sanders MP.

2. The scale of Diabetes in the UK:

§ If all the people in the UK who have diabetes began queuing for a ride on the London Eye when it opened n News Years Day, it would take until March 29th for them all to have a ride, that's with a capacity of 16,000 people a day. Add on the undiagnosed patients and the Eye would be full again until the end of May.

§ Put in another way, both the diagnosed and undiagnosed patients would fill 18,750 Concordes.

§ The number of people with diabetes is increasing rapidly-with huge implication for future NHS resources.

3. This consultation is being run by the Hansard Society, the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Diabetes and sanofi-aventis. The consultation runs for six weeks until Friday 29 January 2005 and will examine such issues as quality of life, adequacy of service provision and funding. Useful background information of the issues for consideration will be available on the web site at www.tellparliament.net/diabetes.

4. The All- Party Parliamentary Group for Diabetes is a cross-party group of MPs and Lords who study the condition of diabetes and its clinical and legal complexities. It is chaired by Adrian Sanders MP, Vice Chairs and Cheryl Gillian MP and Anne McIntosh MP, and the Secretary is David Stewart MP.

5. The Hansard Society is an educational charity that exists to promote parliamentary democracy and runs a wide ranging e-Democracy Programme. They are considered by Parliament as the leading experts on e-consultation and recent consultations include those for the science and Technology Committee, on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, the House of Commons Modernisation Committee on Connecting Parliament with the Public, on the Draft Constitutional Reform Bill and on Hate Crime for the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee. Tell Parliament is a Hansard Society initiative, run by the e-Democracy programme. Over the past five years, the program has carried out a range of pilot projects on behalf of different parliamentary committees providing moderation, summary reports and evaluation. For more information, contact edemocracy@lse.ac.uk.

6. The full Text of Early Day Motion 350 is as follows:

"That this House welcomes the launch of Diabetes Dialogue, an online consultation on diabetes, hosted by the All Party Parliamentary Group for Diabetes, the Hansard Society and Sanofi-aventis that will be open between 8th December 2004 and 29th January 2005; recognises that diabetes is a major health concern in the UK; identifies the benefit of public engagement on the implementation of the National Service Framework for Diabetes and attainment of its targets; commends the facilitation of the public debate between patients, the public, healthcare professionals, organisations and Government that this consultation allows; and urges people with diabetes, carers and health professionals to participate in this valuable initiative to improve patient outcome."

7. Ar Razi Medical Centre. 1 Evington Lane, Leicester, LE5 5PQ. Please contact Dr Vania on 0116 249 0000.