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LIVING
Making in-roads
JDRF's Pathway to Choice project has helped to inform
the new NICE guidelines, with the NHS opening up to a
greater uptake of diabetes tech.
Pathway to Choice is an
ongoing project led by JDRF
and is a partnership backed
by Abbott, Dexcom, Insulet
and Roche. The companies pooled
funding in order to help the charity
to find ways to accelerate access
- and improve wider uptake - to
treatments and technologies for
people with Type 1 diabetes.
According to the charity, only
30% of people with Type 1 diabetes
reach their recommended blood
glucose targets, putting them at
greater risk of health complications.
People with Type 1 diabetes who
use medical technologies often find
it easier to manage their levels and
thereby reduce related health risks.
As a result of the partnership,
JDRF commissioned market research
to understand the motivations and
barriers people with Type 1 diabetes
face in making treatment choices,
as only a small percentage of those
living with the condition in the UK
use more med-tech-based solutions.
The findings of its Pathway to Choice
report, launched in February 2020,
enabled the charity to explore the
types of support and interventions
that needed to be developed in order
to help people living with Type 1
diabetes choose the best possible
treatments for themselves and,
indeed, be given a choice of options.
Uptake and input
Hilary Nathan, JDRF's Policy,
Communications & Community
Engagement Director explains the
plan. "We did a lot of consultations,"
she says, "For example, there is
an All-Party Parliamentary Group
[APPG] on diabetes, but there is
also a committee for the uptake of
technology, which is not just about
diabetes. We spoke to any group
who was prepared to give input.
Speaking of which, three years ago
JDRF merged with INPUT, another
charity, but one with a focus on
getting people onto insulin pumps.
Over time, it broadened its focus to
all diabetes tech and how to access
it, particularly what criteria you had
to fulfil and how to go about it. At the
first INPUT Fusion event, a gathering
with speakers and a small exhibition
of products, 115 people attended.
At the last one, as part of JDRF,
there were 700 to 800 attendees
in the event, which was virtual due
to covid."
While medical technology
providers are in competition with