Islet Transplant now available on NHS
In February, following the successes of Diabetes UK's Islet Transplant Consortium, now led by Dr James Shaw in Newcastle, the UK Government announces that islet cell transplantation will be made available on the NHS for people with Type 1 diabetes who have lost their hypo-awareness. The Department of Health pledges to invest up to £2.34 million in islet transplant services in the first year, increasing to £7.32 million to meet the predicted annual need in the longer term. From start to finish, gathering the evidence to secure this move of funding from Diabetes UK to the NHS took seven years: a brilliant example of how research funding can lead, in a relatively short space of time, to big changes in patient care. This achievement will allow those people who have extreme problems with treating their hypoglycaemia to significantly improve their quality of life. Resolving the most serious cases of hypo unawareness could also save the NHS a significant amount of money, as hypoglycaemic attacks cost £15m a year in hospitalisations and ambulances alone. By the end of 2008, following the NHS taking over funding for clinical islet transplantation in April 2008, six people undergo transplantations, in Oxford, London and Newcastle, including the UK's first ever 'islet-after-kidney' transplant at King’s College Hospital, and the first islet transplantation carried out at a different centre (Newcastle) from where the islets were isolated (King’s College London).