Reducing Variability and Improving Diabetes Care in General Practices in deprived and ethnic areas (ECLIPSE Study) - A Pilot Intervention

Partly funded by Health Education England

Goal: To address four critical features of successful interventions in providing diabetes care, i.e. case finding and management, team changes, patient education and self-management and professional education.

The quantitative ECLIPSE study compared the two groups – intervention with GP Practices and control with 16 GP practices over 24 months. QUAL-ECLIPSE included only the practices receiving the intervention; the practices in the control group will be qualitatively evaluated at a later date.
The intervention was made up of consultant-led diabetes ‘virtual clinic’ comprised two approaches: i) case discussion between the specialists and the primary care team (no patient present) and ii) identification of patients who were at high risk of complication and felt to be in need of a face to face consultation with the specialist team. The ‘specialist’ interventionists were two diabetes specialist consultants, a diabetes specialist nurse (or advanced nurse practitioner) and a diabetes specialist dietitian; this medical, nursing and dietetic expertise aspired to upskill the primary care practitioners through the discussion of individual selected diabetes cases, during protected time in the virtual clinics. The case discussions focussed predominantly on patients identified with poor glycaemic control and patients with complications of diabetes. The virtual clinic was also an opportunity to discuss ‘complex cases’ that the practice had identified e.g. patients with complex co-morbidities.

See more at: http://www.hra.nhs.uk/news/research-summaries/reducing-variability-and-improving-diabetes-care/#sthash.ni3qDcW2.dpuf