Delivering a diabetes inpatient specialist nursing service: The Aintree experience

There are approximately 2.6 million people with diabetes in the UK, with the number expected to rise to over 4 million by 2025 (Diabetes UK, 2010a). As this number increases, it is inevitable that the burden on the NHS will also increase, resulting in more people with diabetes being admitted to hospital. This article describes the workload of the diabetes inpatient specialist nurse team at Aintree University Hospital over a 6-month period. The authors discuss reasons for referral to this service, and evaluate the benefits of having a dedicated inpatient diabetes service. The authors conclude that such a service should be available routinely within all UK hospitals.