A key global policy initiative in the management of diabetes is empowerment through education. However, implementation of policy in the context of healthcare delivery may be challenging at times and the delivery of multi-disciplinary education is not an exception.
Objective: To explore practitioners view about factors associated with non-attendance and identify ways to break some of the barriers to advancing government policy of education for all patients with diabetes.
Method: A qualitative approach was adopted using a focus group interview with practitioners in four hospital sites in South East of England. It involves Diabetes Specialist Nurses, Podiatrist and Dietician (n=7) and semi-structured individual interviews (n=3). Thematic analysis was used to analyse the data.
Findings: Three main themes emerged (1) Practitioners associated barriers (2) Patients’ associated barriers and (3)Strategies to improve attendance.
Conclusion: The findings indicated that the practitioners agreed on the need for improved appointment system, better resources such as more secretarial support to follow-up cases and offering more choice to the patients. Also each locality must consider the cultural needs and background of their patient. However, while some participants felt that non-attendance should attract a sanction, such as a fine, others disagreed
