Frequently asked questions

The National Diabetes Experience Survey is a new survey which gives people living with type 1 or type 2 diabetes in England the opportunity to feedback on their experiences. NHS England will use the findings to understand and improve experiences of NHS care and self-management for people living with diabetes.

NHS England is responsible for delivering the National Diabetes Experience Survey. NHS England leads the National Health Service (NHS) in England. You can find out more on the NHS website.

NHS England is working with Ipsos, an independent research organisation, to deliver this survey. Ipsos strictly adheres to the Market Research Society's Code of Conduct. You can find out more on the Ipsos website.

The National Diabetes Experience Survey will be sent out between March until July 2024. This is the first time the survey has been run. Until now, there has not been a national survey of this scale for people living with diabetes in England. This is an exciting new opportunity to have your voice heard.

The questionnaire was developed by NHS England and Ipsos with clinicians, policy experts, local providers, charities, and people living with diabetes. The survey wording was also tested with people living with diabetes to make sure it was understood and easy to read.

You can read about how people living with diabetes and clinicians have been involved in developing the survey in our meet the survey team page.

The Plain English Campaign supports organisations to provide information in the clearest possible way. Ahead of the 2024 survey, Ipsos worked with the Plain English Campaign on the questionnaire and survey materials to make sure these documents are easy for everyone to understand.

As a result, the National Diabetes Experience Survey questionnaire and survey materials achieved the Plain English Campaign’s Crystal Mark seal of approval.

You can find the paper questionnaire on our latest survey materials page. The questionnaire copyright belongs to NHS England. Please do not use the questionnaire without permission from NHS England. You can get in touch with us at england.digitaldiabetes@nhs.net.

If you need medical help now, but it is not an emergency go to 111.nhs.uk or call 111 from any landline or mobile phone free of charge. Deaf people can use text relay to call 18001 111.

You can also contact your diabetes team, GP practice or another healthcare professional. They should be able to help with any further assessments or care that they think is needed. They will also be able to signpost you to other sources of support.

You can learn more about living with diabetes and the support available for you on the NHS website. This includes information about:

• Speaking to other people, including friends and family, other people living with diabetes, on social media, and via face-to-face support groups.
• Support for your mental health and wellbeing.
• Education courses and other information online.

Ipsos cannot help you with any other question or complaint you have about the service or care you have received.

If you want to complain about the service or care you have received, you can choose whether to complain directly to the healthcare provider (for example your hospital or GP practice), or to the commissioner (which is the organisation that pays for the service or care you received).

The commissioner is your local Integrated Care Board (ICB) if your complaint is about:

• primary care services such as GPs, dentists, opticians or pharmacy services
• hospital care, mental health services, out of hours services, NHS 111 and community services such as district nursing

If you choose to complain to your local ICB, you can find out how to contact them on this website:

Very often the healthcare provider will be able to resolve the matter for you locally.

More information about making a complaint can be found on the following website: