Aims: A qualitative research approach was adopted in order to explore the views and health beliefs of patients with Type 2 diabetes who had experienced a new structured diabetes shared care service.
Methods: Patients from 15 general practices were randomly selected and invited to attend three focus groups. Two independent researchers adopted the "Framework" technique to analyse the transcribed data and identify key themes expressed by patients.
Results: Themes relating to diabetes included frustration, victimization and powerlessness in relation to living with diabetes, controlling blood sugar, medication and economic barriers to care. Differences in emphases between patients and healthcare providers emerged. Patients were generally positive about shared care and largely identified it with the nurses involved.
Conclusion: This research highlights the importance of an in-depth exploration of patients' views during changes in diabetes care delivery to identify service delivery failures and gaps in patient knowledge such as lack of awareness of the extent of macrovascular risk.