Diabetes targets ‘not being reached’

The 2008/09 National Diabetes Audit for England and Wales shows that treatment targets are not being met for many people with diabetes despite annual contact with 90 per cent of patients (www.ic.nhs.uk).

    The annual audit of primary and secondary care found that a third of patients with type 2 diabetes and half of those with type 1 diabetes did not have a urine test. Two-thirds of patients with type 2 diabetes and one-third of those with type 1 achieved an HbA_1c ≤7.5 per cent (58mmol per mol). Target cholesterol (<4mmol per litre) was achieved by about a third of those with type 2 diabetes and a quarter of patients with type 1. In England, the prevalence of obesity has increased by 10 per cent in the past six years and fewer obese patients met targets for blood pressure.
    There is ‘substantial variation’ between PCTs in the implementation of care processes and achievement of treatment targets.