Endocrine Abstracts

The National Paediatric Diabetes Audit (NPDA) has now been established for 9 years and collects data on standards of care as defined by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE). These include demographics of paediatric diabetes, care process completion rates and outcomes.

Since April 2011 the NPDA has been managed by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) which comprises a project board advised by specific working groups associated with the dataset and with experience measures and representing stakeholders.

Under the guidance of the working groups and the project board the RCPCH have been engaging with stakeholders to improve participation and data quality. In 2010/2011 there was an increase in 23.4% of patients submitted to the audit. With the development of the regional networks in England it has been possible to express the data at individual unit level and at regional and national level allowing valuable benchmarking to take place. Risk adjusted outcomes are being developed for 2011/2012 data which will attempt to adjust for confounding factors such as deprivation, ethnicity and age.

The first national Patient/Parent Reported Experience Measure (PREM) for paediatric diabetes reported in 2013 with approximately half the paediatric diabetes population participating. There is wide unit and regional level variation in patient experience which requires careful benchmarking and evaluation.

Data provided by the audit needs to be carefully reviewed by units and utilised as part of their peer review process to improve outcomes and quality of care by benchmarking against others and making changes to services where necessary.