We have partnered with the Royal College of Physicians to launch the Diabetes Care Accreditation Programme (DCAP) on 31st May 2023, which will deliver improved standards of diabetes care in hospitals across the UK.
Diabetes inpatient care varies considerably across hospitals, regions and nations, and people living with diabetes often express concern about how their condition is managed in hospital.
Diabetes inpatient care is not universally standardised and currently there is no established mechanism which provides assurance that national standards for diabetes care in hospital are being met equally across the UK.
The first of its kind, DCAP aims to improve diabetes inpatient care by setting quality standards and measuring how services perform against the standards through an external peer assessment.
By joining DCAP, health care services will be able to work towards a set of standards which, when met, will consistently provide good diabetes care in hospitals across the UK.
Why accreditation is important
Accreditation has played a pivotal role in driving change in many aspects of healthcare. It can act as a form of assurance to service users, managers, referrers, and commissioners about the service provided.
Participating in accreditation helps teams to:
- Improve service delivery and quality of care for people with diabetes
- Reduce variation in clinical services
- Highlight and share good practice as well as where to focus improvement efforts
- Increase satisfaction with working conditions, leadership, and collaboration
- Embed quality improvement in everyday practice
The launch of DCAP will help improve the quality and safety of diabetes inpatient care, bringing us one step closer to a world where diabetes can do no harm.
We encourage all diabetes inpatient teams across the UK to sign up to DCAP by visiting www.dcap.org.uk.
