Hansard

Like others, I thank Clare Adamson for bringing the debate to the chamber and welcome to the public gallery the JDRF and others impacted by type 1 diabetes. I congratulate the efforts described by Clare Adamson to raise so much, whether that is by walking at Strathclyde country park, climbing up Kilimanjaro or hauling an anvil up Goatfell. The Scottish Government acknowledges the challenges that are faced daily by people living with all forms of diabetes. However, today’s debate has, rightly, focused on type 1 diabetes.

Scotland has a strong track record on helping people with type 1 diabetes to live longer, healthier lives. The Scottish Government does not, however, act alone or have all the answers. The cause of type 1 diabetes is not known. It is not linked to lifestyle factors and, at the moment, there is no cure. Eighty per cent of diabetes complications are preventable or can be delayed with early detection, good care and self-management. That is what made Graeme Dey’s contribution so profound. I, too, pay tribute to his constituents Helen and Malcolm, following the tragic loss of their daughter Claire. That loss shows that we must do more to make improvements across Scotland.

Our Scottish diabetes survey is informed by SCI-Diabetes, which is probably the most complete diabetes register in the world. We know from the survey that there are now more than 30,000 people in Scotland living with type 1 diabetes. The survey is an incredibly important tool in helping us to achieve improvement, enabling us to see and monitor changes over time. It shows us that although the number of people with type 1 diabetes is increasing, the rate of increase has remained relatively static. The picture is similar for the under five-years-old group.

Research is very important. As Clare Adamson, Anas Sarwar and others rightly said, the JDRF’s work—its research, which includes investment of almost £4 million in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow, and its support and advocacy services—is hugely valuable, not just to the Government, but to society as a whole.

In 2015, the Scottish Government published the health and social care research strategy “Delivering Innovation through Research”, which set out an ambitious agenda for change. It required new ways of working and identified four areas that are critical to our future success: efficient support for research; partnership with patients and the public in Scotland; targeted deployment of resources; and investment in the future. In that context, the Scottish Government’s chief scientist office invests more than £60 million each year to support the health research infrastructure, buy into United Kingdom-wide funding programmes and directly fund research studies, primarily through its two response mode committees.

In order to improve our understanding of the impact of changing diabetes care on our population, the complications associated with diabetes and the development of new therapies, the CSO also funds the Scottish diabetes research network. The network supports the set-up and delivery of clinical and epidemiological research across Scotland. Recent studies have included a range of commercial trials of novel therapies for people with diabetes, a groundbreaking multi-centre trial of insulin pump therapy and research into rates of amputation in people with diabetes.

Scotland can draw on a series of unique research assets to support research in diabetes, including SCI-Diabetes, which tracks real-time clinical information on all people in Scotland with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. It is used in all hospital clinics and 1,200 general practices, and it has been successfully employed to recruit to clinical studies.

We also have the Scottish diabetes research register, which is an electronic database of more than 10,000 patients who have agreed to be contacted about research for which they are eligible. The research register uses the latest clinical data on each patient to identify suitable patients for studies, thereby increasing the efficiency of recruitment to clinical trials.

Many treatments for diabetes are delivered in primary care, and primary care professionals have a key role to play in achieving the aims of diabetes research and maximising access to clinical studies for diabetes patients in Scotland. Implementation of the Scottish diabetes research network primary care initiative aims to expand the number of studies that can be carried out in primary care by engaging with GP practices and providing them with support to conduct clinical trials. The initiative recently won the primary care award for innovation in service delivery at a Diabetes UK professional conference.

The Scottish Government is proud to have been involved in the setting up of the type 1 diabetes bioresource, which is co-funded by the chief scientist office and Diabetes UK. More than 6,100 type 1 patients have consented to take part in the study, thereby creating the largest biobank of type 1 diabetes adults in Europe, with blood, urine and DNA available for further study. The resource is well placed to enable exciting new discoveries in the causes and treatment of type 1 diabetes.

Scotland can be proud of the strong body of research into diabetes that we both lead and host. However, we are not complacent and together we must rise to the challenge that is posed by such a serious disease, which impacts on the lives of thousands of people in Scotland, as many MSPs have articulated tonight.

Alex Rowley is right: the power of people’s testimonies is important to ensure that we continue to make the improvements that we need. Miles Briggs and Brian Whittle are also right to acknowledge the impact that type 1 has on young people in particular, and in her speech Emma Harper demonstrated an in-depth knowledge that, like the authoritative way in which she spoke, is particularly compelling.

While we in Scotland strive nationally and internationally to find a cure for diabetes, we continue to work hard to ensure that people are supported by world-class diabetes services. Through our diabetes improvement plan, we are progressing a wide range of actions to achieve that. Examples include the diabetic ketoacidosis campaign, which has run for two consecutive years and which aims to raise awareness of signs and symptoms to prompt quick referral and early diagnosis; the know your numbers national glycaemic target campaign for children and adults to help people to understand the blood glucose reading that they should aim for; and structured education resources for people who have been newly diagnosed with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. That is only a small flavour of the activity, and I will move on to talk in a little more detail about three important areas in particular.

As other members have highlighted, the First Minister announced £10 million of new funding at the JDRF’s 30th anniversary event. That funding will support a further increase in the provision of insulin pumps for adults and improve access to continuous glucose monitors. We know that those technologies can be literally life changing for some people.

At the start of 2016, we introduced a new quarterly reporting mechanism that enables diabetes teams to monitor and identify improvement across 12 key measures of diabetes care. Those measures include the nine essential healthcare checks that are important in keeping healthy, reducing risk and detecting signs of the complications that are associated with diabetes.

Access to information to support people to self-manage their diabetes is equally important. The my diabetes, my way website is an award-winning resource that enables people to see and check their clinical results and health information. It provides a wide range of advice and is demonstrating its value in helping people to improve their blood glucose control.

To further help to raise awareness of living well with diabetes, we will run a poster campaign in community pharmacies from next month to encourage people to ensure that they get all nine of their healthcare checks.

To conclude, I give our thanks to Diabetes Scotland for its incredibly valuable work in supporting people who live with diabetes and, of course, to the JDRF for its dedication, efforts and research. I also thank Clare Adamson and other members for their contributions to the debate.

David Stewart reminded us that Scotland led the way in the discovery of insulin treatment in 1921. We should aspire to continue to lead and build on the strengths that I and other members have outlined, as we are all united in a desire to help people who live with diabetes to live longer and healthier lives and to support the work of the JDRF and others to find the long yearned-for cure for type 1 diabetes.