• H Van Loon, L Deturck, F Buntinx, J Heyrman, L Degroote, K De Koker, and J Vliers.
• Department of General Practice, KULeuven, Kapucijnenvoer 33 and Medisch Centrum voor Huisartsen, Leuven, Belgium.
• Fam Pract. 2000 Apr 1; 17 (2): 167172167-72.

BackgroundThe new diabetes protocol, formulated in Belgium as a consensus between the National Institution of Health Insurance and diabetologists, implicitly assumes the care of type 1 diabetic patients to be more efficient at the specialist level (SP) in hospital, although GPs frequently are involved in diabetes care.ObjectivesA study was carried out in order to highlight differences in diabetes care between three different treatment settings (SP alone, combined SP-GP and GP alone)MethodsOut of a group of known diabetics, 325 patients were selected according to a stratified cluster sampling technique, in such a way that the three types of diabetes (formerly called type 1, type 2a and type 2b) occurred sufficiently in the three above-defined treatment settings. Outcome data on co-morbidity and diabetes health profile as well as output data on laboratory results were collected for each patient and compared between the different subgroups.ResultsOn the basis of a response rate of 47.9%, equally distributed over the different levels, we demonstrated that GPs and SPs score equally low on the different measures and that a better follow-up is indicated in all settings.ConclusionDiabetes care in Flanders can be upgraded significantly. There is no evidence that specialists are performing better. Therefore, one could argue for better follow-up of diabetes care in a primary health care setting.

29 keywords...

hide…