Release of the Diabetes Quality Improvement Plan

Release of the Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Quality Improvement Plan

13 February 2008

Dr Sandy Dawson, Chief Clinical Advisor

The Ministry of Health is pleased to announce the release of the national Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease Quality Improvement Plan.

The Quality Improvement Plan (QIP) was jointly developed by the Ministry of Health, DHBs, clinical experts and consumers. It provides the health sector with a three-year plan to implement the priorities that will be nationally agreed and co-ordinated in order to improve health outcomes and the quality of care for people with cardiovascular disease and/or diabetes.

The Ministry's Chief Clinical Advisor, Dr Sandy Dawson says the plan is an important step towards finalising a nationally accepted programme for dealing with these serious health problems.

"The Ministry, stakeholders and the Expert Advisory Group have worked hard on this plan, and we're looking forward to hearing feedback from the DHBs."

Dr Dawson says the QIP will be reviewed at intervals to coincide with the annual planning cycles of the Ministry and DHBs. The Ministry will approve any updates after consultation with DHBs and the health sector.

The QIP will work alongside other strategies including the Healthy Eating, Healthy Action (HEHA) programme and PHO performance programme to provide a broad range of improvements in services for people with cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Key points of the Quality Improvement Plan include:
• improving the quality of services for people with diabetes, heart disease and stroke. The plan will assist the health sector in determining priorities and ensuring the best use of available resources
• reducing inequality by promoting national consistency and collaboration between DHBs, the Ministry of Health, Non-Government Organisations and the health sector

The plan provides recommendations for action to improve patient outcomes, which are based on new and existing data that gives a good picture of how well the sector is coping with these chronic conditions.

The Expert Advisory Group who wrote the Quality Improvement Plan is chaired by Professor Jim Mann (Professor of Human Nutrition University of Otago) - The Expert Advisory Group consulted is made up of expert clinicians, DHB management, Non-Government Organisations and consumer representatives.

Background:

In April 2006, the then Minister of Health, Pete Hodgson, tasked the Ministry of Health with developing a national quality improvement plan (QIP) for cardiovascular disease and diabetes. The Ministry sought nominations from national organisations to establish an Expert Advisory Group (EAG) with the best available representation from DHB management, clinical staff and consumers.

The EAG has guided the analysis of national data, and developed a first priority set of practical recommendations to improve outcomes. These recommendations have been refined with input from the wider health sector, and this report is the result.

This report is being distributed to all DHBs for their information. All DHBs are asked to indicate specifically which recommendations in this report they agree are priorities that should be progressively included in a national QIP. Input from the wider health sector may also continue to be sought through workshops or specific surveys. The Ministry, in association with the EAG and stakeholders, will then develop a detailed QIP implementation plan so that the agreed priorities are implemented effectively and efficiently.

ENDS