Diabetes mellitus or otherwise known as diabetes is acknowledged as a national health priority in Australia. It is referred as an epidemic of the 21st century and one of the biggest challenges which are faced by Australia’s healthcare system. There are over 1.7 million people in Australia who have diabetes which include all types of diagnosed diabetes (Diabetes Australia, 2018). This is serious health issue in Australia, and the government continuously focuses on addressing this issue by implementing different healthcare policies. In Australia, diabetes is the fastest growing condition which is increasing faster than compared to other chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease (Dixon et al., 2014). In this report, the need assessment of diabetes control service will be evaluated along with challenges faced by caregivers. This report will evaluate the impact of diabetes along with various initiatives started by the government of Australia in order to address this issue. The challenges faced by caregivers of diabetes will be evaluated along with SWOT analysis of the issue. Various program priorities will be identified in the report which can be provided at grass root level via state/local councils.
Diabetes is referred to a chronic illness which is characterised based on the high levels of glucose in the blood. In order to work properly, human bodies require converting glucose (sugar) from food into energy (American Diabetes Association, 2015). Insulin is the key hormone which assists in converting glucose in the body into energy. People who have diabetes did not produce insulin or did not produce sufficient amount of insulin in the body. In case of Australia, diabetes is one of the biggest challenges which are faced by the healthcare system. The main issue with this disease is the rate at which it is increasing in Australia. 280 people in Australia develop diabetes every day which means that one person in every five minutes develops the disease of diabetes (Diabetes Australia, 2018). There are over 1.7 million Australian who is currently suffering from this chronic disease. Around 1.2 million are known and registered which include all types of diagnosed diabetes as well as silent.
On the other hand, it is estimated that up to 500,000 people are undiagnosed with type 2 diabetes. In the past year, over 100,000 Australians have developed diabetes. In 2016, diabetes was the cause of death for 4,770 people in Australia which makes it the seventh leading cause of death in the country overall (ABS, 2016). It is reported that the standardised death rate from diabetes in 2016 was 16.2 deaths per 100,000 people. This rate has been marginally reduced in the past 10 ten years from 16.7 to 16.2 deaths per 100,000 people due to medical advancements and improvement in healthcare facilities (ABS, 2016). However, with the growing rate of diabetes patients in the country, this rate is expected to grow higher. Type-2 diabetes is a major issue in case of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people because 12.8 percent of the people who are aged 15 years or above suffered from diabetes in 2014-15 (Health, 2016).
There are various programs or initiatives established by the government in order to support the management and treatment of diabetes conditions.
This program provides subsidies to patients who suffered from diabetes. Subsidies include Medicare items which are crucial for planning and management of this disease. The patients who are eligible can get up to five Medicare subsidised allied health services (Health, 2016).
This scheme is focused on providing subsidies and medicines to individuals who suffered from diabetes.
This program is managed by Diabetes Australia based on an agreement which is formed with the Department of Health. The objective of this program is to provide products such as blood glucose test strips, insulin pump, syringes and needles, urine ketone test strips and others to patients who are registered under this program.
The Australian government made significant investment in the NHMRC in order to research on the conditions of diabetes and finding new ways to improve the care of patients (NHMRC, 2018).
It is a program which is funded by the government to support national surveillance in order to monitor vascular diseases which include diabetes as well.
This strategy is developed by the government in order to improve the coordination between existing resources in order to prioritise the national response to focus on prevention, intervention, management, treatment and early diagnosis of diabetes (Health, 2018).
Diabetes is still a major issue in Australia because it is affecting a large number of people. The current initiatives and programs implemented by the Australian government are not enough to address the issues of diabetes since people who are affected by this disease are continuously increasing. There is lack of caregiver facilities in Australian for diabetes patients. The caregivers did not have appropriate support from the community service due to which they are unable to provide appropriate services to the diabetes patients. The key challenge which is faced in the need analysis is lack of budget. Effective implementation of diabetes control service is necessary to reduce the number of diabetes patients in the country.
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Strengths |
Weaknesses |
|
· Various initiatives are implemented by the government in Australia which assists caregivers in controlling diabetes · Awareness regarding this disease is continuously growing · The strategy implemented by the government is focused on increasing the budget which will provide support to caregivers |
· Lack of community support given to caregivers · Lack of support from the national healthcare agencies · No state/territory based plan is implemented in locations where the number of diabetes patients is high · Indigenous people face discrimination in caregiver facilities |
|
Opportunities |
Threats |
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· Collaboration with non-governmental institutes to provide support to caregivers and diabetes patients · Increasing the budget for the initiatives to provide services to patients |
· Continuously increasing number of diabetic patients in the country · Caregivers are not paid well for their job |
The diabetes control service initiative will be a national level approach which also focuses on addressing the needs of each state. The objective of this strategy should be focused on exploring normative and comparative needs. In order to prioritise the control of diabetes at a service level, it is important that this policy is implemented by the government. The first part of this strategy should be focused on increasing awareness regarding the issue of diabetes since its risk can be reduced by living a healthy lifestyle such as continuous exercising, eating healthy food and avoiding wrong habits such as alcohol and smoking (Lee et al., 2013). The governmental policies are targeted towards providing subsidies to patients who are not eligible; however, no initiate is taken for those patients who are ineligible to avail these services.
Currently, the total annual costs which are incurred on diabetes in Australia are estimated at $14.6 billion (Diabetes Australia, 2018). However, the funding provided by the government is not enough to ensure that caregivers are able to meet the requirement of patients. Therefore, the second part of the policy should focus on increasing the budget for the policy in order to ensure that more facilities are given to patients and address the challenges of caregivers. The third part of this policy should focus on avoid discrimination with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. There is a need of providing them better facility and support to address the challenge of diabetes. These programs should be provided at grass root level via state/local council in order to increase their effectiveness. Therefore, the priority of the program should include increasing awareness regarding diabetes, providing support to caregivers and eliminating disadvantages of indigenous people.
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Goals |
Strategies |
Indicators |
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Increase awareness regarding diabetes and how people suffer from it |
· Social media promotion for contacting people regarding this issue · National initiative to promote healthy lifestyle |
· Popularity regarding factors which cause diabetes · Increase in number of people inquiring regarding diabetes |
|
Providing support to caregivers |
· Conducting a survey of caregivers to find out their challenges · Increase the budget to meet their needs |
· Wellbeing of caregivers and growth in their number · Feedback from patients regarding the performance of caregivers |
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Avoiding discrimination with Indigenous people |
· Implementation of policies which are targeted on addressing the challenges of Indigenous people |
· Both national and state level initiatives for the wellbeing of Aboriginal people · Creating a separate budget for indigenous people · Increase number of caregivers for indigenous people · Collaboration with non-governmental agencies for the support |
Conclusion
In conclusion, the issue of diabetes is significant in Australia as the number of patients is growing each year. This need assessment report focuses on addressing the challenges relating to diabetes in Australia. Although various initiatives are implemented by the government, however, they are not sufficient to address this issue. The strategy should focus on increasing awareness regarding this issue and providing support to caregivers in order to reduce the number of diabetes patients. The need assessment should specifically focus on the challenges faced by indigenous people because they face many disadvantages. The program should prioritise on three key factors which include increasing awareness regarding the issue, providing support to caregivers and addressing the challenges of indigenous people.
References
ABS. (2016). Causes of Death, Australia, 2016. Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/Lookup/by%20Subject/3303.0~2016~Main%20Features~Understanding%20diabetes%20mortality%20in%20Australia~5
American Diabetes Association. (2015). Standards of medical care in diabetes—2015 abridged for primary care providers. Clinical diabetes: a publication of the American Diabetes Association, 33(2), 97.
Diabetes Australia. (2018). Diabetes in Australia. Retrieved from https://www.diabetesaustralia.com.au/diabetes-in-australia
Dixon, J. B., Browne, J. L., Mosely, K. G., Rice, T. L., Jones, K. M., Pouwer, F., & Speight, J. (2014). Severe obesity and diabetes self?care attitudes, behaviours and burden: implications for weight management from a matched case?controlled study. Results from Diabetes MILES—Australia. Diabetic medicine, 31(2), 232-240.
Health. (2016). Diabetes. Retrieved from https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/chronic-diabetes#ris
Health. (2018). Australian National Diabetes Strategy 2016-2020. Retrieved from https://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/content/nds-2016-2020
Lee, C. M. Y., Colagiuri, R., Magliano, D. J., Cameron, A. J., Shaw, J., Zimmet, P., & Colagiuri, S. (2013). The cost of diabetes in adults in Australia. Diabetes research and clinical practice, 99(3), 385-390.
NHMRC. (2018). About us. Retrieved from https://nhmrc.gov.au/about-us
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