Quality Standards for Diabetes Care Toolkit

Additional considerations

Retinal photo quality assurance programmes should be also implemented, and accredited photo screening and photo grading training programmes should be developed (Diabetes Workforce Service Review) www.health.govt.nz/system/files/documents/pages/diabetes-workforce-service-review.pdf and Hutchins et al (2012).

Training on requirements for correct data entry into the Ophthalmology Digital Healthcare Database introduced July 2011. See also Service Specifications Tier 2 and 3 and information on pages 16–20 of Ministry of Health (2008) document relating to minimum data set for each enrolled person and for each retinal screening examination.

An information system that can provide:

an effective recall system for individuals diagnosed with DR

referral for DR assessment/follow up from any point of contact

access to complete data records by all health care providers involved in an individual’s care

data collection for nationwide monitoring generated from key national monitoring indicators such as retinopathy grades and referral to a monitoring programme and/or treatment

reporting of outcomes advancing reduction of inequalities

consideration around workforce issues to meet demand of specialist screening

targeted, culturally appropriate screening programmes for Pacific peoples.

Pacific people have significantly higher prevalence of diabetes than all other ethnic groups, affecting nearly 8.4% of the population. In comparison, Māori have significantly lower prevalence with 4.8% of the population affected (Health Quality and Safety Commission New Zealand 2014). However, rates for Māori are still higher than the general population. The Health Quality and Safety Commission data included all ages so comparison with other figures specific to the adult population is not possible (Health Quality and Safety Commission New Zealand 2014).