Audit Report of the HSE Midland Diabetes Structured Care Programme

The HSE Midland Diabetes Structured Care Programme (MDSCP) is one of the longest established primary care based diabetes care programmes in Ireland. The programme is dedicated to improving the quality of care for patients with diabetes in the counties of Longford, Westmeath, Laois and Offaly. It is comprised of several evidence-based strategies to improve diabetes management, including the use of clinical guidelines, patient register and recall and protected time for review visits, ongoing organisation and coordination of care by practice nurses, structured multidisciplinary support and professional and patient education. Since its establishment in 1997/1998 the MDSCP has contributed to the evidence base for structured primary care-led diabetes management in Ireland. The programme has potential to provide insight into the long-term performance and sustainability of a primary care-led approach to diabetes care in the Irish context. Using data from the most recent audit of the programme carried out in 2015/2016, the current report aims to assess the quality of care delivered by the programme benchmarked against national guidelines and international performance in diabetes management. It also reviews trends in the performance of the programme over four years of data collection and audit. Key findings from the audit are outlined under the titles: patient profile, processes of care, prescribing, screening, outcomes of care and complications .