A national charity has chosen Lincolnshire as one of three areas of the country to focus on care for diabetics.
There are high rates of diabetes in Lincolnshire, with 33,028 county people registered as having the condition which, if not managed properly, can result in blindness, amputation and kidney disease.
County doctors have blamed high obesity rates and Lincolnshire's large elderly population ?both factors contributing to diabetes ?for its high number of diabetics.
And NHS Lincolnshire is hoping to become a leading primary care trust when it comes to its diabetes services thanks to a two-year project with Diabetes UK.
Along with NHS Hammersmith and Fulham and the North Mersey Diabetes Network, Diabetes UK chose to work with NHS Lincolnshire due to its commitment to diabetes services and high numbers of diabetics.
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Dr Martin McShane, director of strategic planning for NHS Lincolnshire, said he hopes the pioneering project will result in county patients being given more choice surrounding their treatment.
"Rather than starting from what's best for the NHS, we'd like to look at what's best for the customer when improving their quality of services," said Dr McShane.
"We are looking at how we can get the service driven by the users such as we'd like to ask diabetic children whether the would like to manage their diet very carefully so they know how much insulin we need to inject.
"Or they might prefer to eat what they like and have more insulin."
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