Quarter of people do not realise they have diabetes, audit shows
About a quarter of people who are predicted by epidemiological studies
to have diabetes have not had their condition diagnosed and recorded
in practice registers, a new audit shows.
Results of the first year of a clinical audit involving over 250,000
people in England were published by the Health and Social Care Information
Centre this week, on behalf of the Healthcare Commission. The report
points out that people who have not had their diagnosis recorded in practice
registers are unlikely to receive optimal care and monitoring.
The results also show that less than half of patients diagnosed with
diabetes are recorded as receiving eye checks, although the 2006 National
Service Framework sets a target of 80 per cent.
Furthermore, National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence guidelines
recommend that, as a primary target, people with diabetes should aim
for an HbA1c level of less than 7.5 per cent. The audit found that only
56 per cent of patients achieved this target, and only 23 per cent achieved
the secondary target of 6.5 per cent. Wide regional variations were also
seen in the rates of myocardial infarction, cardiac failure and stroke
among people with diabetes.
The report (PDF,
1.4Mb) is available from the Healthcare Commission website. |
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