DIABETICS in West Fife are being encouraged to complete a series of surveys designed to identify issues in services for those with the disease.

The Managed Clinical Network (MCN) Diabetes Patient Focus Group are launching their first survey of three tomorrow (Saturday), when their study focusing on levels of support available to diabetic patients will be available online.

Chair of the focus group Ross Kerr told the Press: "I'm going back 20 years now, when I started this patient focus group. My job there is to make sure that people with diabetes in Fife get the care and attention that's laid down in the rules.

"We're tying to find out if the patients are getting the information and education that they should be getting."

Each survey will cover a different aspect of diabetic care, the first will ask about the level of support that patients are getting, the second will focus on clinical appointments and the last will enquire about education.

The survey is quick and easy to fill out and offers complete anonymity to participants. It is suitable for people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

He continued: "The important thing is that it's anonymous. It goes out on the website and people will fill it in without putting their name, it comes back to us at the group and we won't see any names on it.

"Then, what I’ll do is go along to the healthcare professionals meeting and show them the results. From there on in, it's up to them to sort it."

The group is run for patients, by patients, and their main goal with the survey is to find out what areas of diabetic care are working well in Fife, and what needs improvement.

To access the questionnaire and get information on the further surveys that will be released, visit https://www.diabetes-fife.org.uk/