Inpatient diabetes care during the COVID-19 pandemic: A Diabetes UK rapid review of healthcare professionals' experiences using semi-structured interviews.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: Inpatient care for people with diabetes can and must be improved. The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the way care is delivered across the UK. Diabetes UK needed to understand how inpatient care for people with diabetes has been affected and to identify opportunities, areas of concerns and recommendations for the future. METHODS: We interviewed 28 healthcare professionals and hospital teams from across the UK to find out about their experiences of delivering inpatient diabetes care during the first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. RESULTS: We found that disruption to inpatient diabetes services created positive environments and opportunities for new ways of working, but in the minority, impacted on the quality of care clinicians felt they were able to deliver. CONCLUSIONS: It is important that these positive ways of working be maintained and as a result of these experiences we have outlined urgent recommendations for the challenging winter months ahead.