In Scotland, diabetes is one of the conditions covered by the Chronic Medication Service, provided as part of the community pharmacy contract.12 In England, diabetes is not currently a specific national target group within the Medicines Use Review service, but with around 200,000 people being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in England each year, there are plenty of opportunities for New Medicines Service intervention.13,1

PSNC maintains a list of services being offered by pharmacies at local or regional level in England, including pilot services. Examples of five diabetes services were listed by Local Pharmaceutical Committees as at September 2017 and illustrate a range of interventions:14

·       In Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, community pharmacists have used the Patient Activation Measure (PAM) and motivational interviewing techniques to support patients to better manage their type 2 diabetes;

·       West Hampshire pharmacy staff used a scratch card initiative for people with diabetes to initiate a conversation about diabetic foot health;

·       In Wiltshire, a pilot service promoted self care to people aged 16-40 who had diabetes, and offered advice, including medicines use reviews if appropriate, and follow-ups.

·       Essex LPC flagged up a scheme commissioned by J&J Lifescan to display posters advising patients with diabetes on a change of meters and provided replacement meters free of charge.

·       County Durham pharmacies have been promoting the local authority's 'Just beat it' campaign, under the NHS DPP.

Leicestershire Diabetes, set up by the Diabetes Department at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, encourages people with diabetes to visit their community pharmacy for advice, medicines support and testing as part of the 'Think Pharmacy First' campaign.15

In addition to the services outlined above, PSNC's website contains a variety of resources, to help build a case to support service commissioning bids, including essential facts and figures around diabetes prescribing, policy and demographics, and service development tools.16

Diabetes UK resources include a section, 'Pharmacy and medicines in diabetes care', which has other shared practice examples (www.diabetes.org.uk/professionals/resources/shared-practice/pharmacy-and-medicines).17