“Diabetes can make mental health conditions worse, and mental health conditions can make diabetes harder to manage. Each influences the other”
Prof Robert Peveler Professor of Liaison Psychiatry within Medicine University of Southampton & Chair of the Committee for Clinical Affairs at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) Dec 2025
“Too often individuals managing both diabetes and a mental health problem face a troubling disconnect between specialist physical and mental health services. This fragmentation of care can leave patients without the co-ordinated support they need, increasing the risk of harm.”
Nick Woodier, Senior Safety Investigator HSSIB 2026
“The psychological and emotional wellbeing of people with diabetes must be an integral part of diabetes care… The mental wellbeing of people living with diabetes is the responsibility of both commissioners and care providers, and support should not be limited to people with diagnosable psychological disorders.”
Diabetes UK
Despite long term evidence of the benefits of integrated diabetes and mental health services and care the disconnect continues. The new HSSIB investigation (Feb 2026) shows that, in practice, adults with insulin-treated diabetes who are known to community mental health services are not always under specialist diabetes care when they should be, are sometimes discharged after “did not attend” without adequate consideration of risk. People with diabetes are not getting enough psychological and mental health support, and people with mental health problems and co-occurring diabetes are not getting adequate assessment, care, education and treatment. There remains variable integration and information-sharing between mental health and specialist diabetes services — despite recognition of the safety risks. The result is a preventable gap where psychological need and physical risk collide, and people can come to serious harm because care isn’t joined up and personalised around them.
“Clinical teams should ensure that all staff can access training in diabetes and mental health to support them to care for people with both diabetes and severe mental illness, develop local pathways for joint working and ensure best practice tariff criteria are met”
Diabetes UK Position Statement
This conference will enable you to:
Network with colleagues working to improve both diabetes care for people with mental health conditions, and mental health and psychological support for people with diabetes
Reflect on the lived experience
Understand and reflect on the February 2026 HSSIB Report calling for better integration
Learn from established practice in the assessment and management of diabetes in people with a mental health diagnosis
Understand and reflect on the relationship between Diabetes and Mental Health
Deliver a personalized diabetes education programme for people living with severe mental illness
Understand how you can support people to improve physical health and the impact on personal recovery journeys
Develop truly integrated diabetes and mental health services
Improve care and support for people with diabetes and disordered eating (T1DE)
Support safe care of people with diabetes in inpatient settings
Identify key strategies to integrate physical and mental health together to manage comorbid complex physical and mental health problems
Improve mental health liaison and psychological support for people with diabetes
Self assess and reflect on your own practice
Supports CPD professional development and acts as revalidation evidence. This course provides 5hrs training for CPD subject to peer group approval for revalidation purposes
