As part of a programme of work commissioned by the Scottish Government, DHI formed a strategic partnership with NHS Lanarkshire to collaborate on health and care service transformation. In consultation with the Chief Executive and the South Lanarkshire Health and Care Partnership’s Long Term Conditions Group, diabetes was identified as a key area of need. Following scoping activities in NHS Lanarkshire, services for people living with type 2 diabetes were identified as the focus for innovation and redesign activities.

The project employed a participatory process including pop-up engagement, interviews with people living with type 2 diabetes and primary care and specialist staff, a co-design workshop with practice nurses and specialist staff, and further engagements with people living with type 2 diabetes to refine the concepts. Rich insights were generated on how people would like to be supported at diagnosis, and how primary care staff can be supported by specialist staff to create person-centred diagnosis conversations.

The findings of the current state of care in NHS Lanarkshire are available in full in our ‘Interim Findings’ report, and provided the contextual basis for future ideas presented in this document. Concepts are presented for a new visual tool to support the diagnosis conversation, a new diagnosis group appointment with a specialist, and new ways of working across primary and secondary care to support practice nurses to deliver person-centred care. These concepts together form the new diagnosis experience, which is discussed alongside recent developments in diabetes policy at a national level. In addition to this ‘near’ future map, we present opportunities for future care enabled by new digital services and a roadmap to support discussion and further development towards implementation.