DIABETES across the LIFECOURSE – Northern Australia Partnership

Improving systems of care and services for people with diabetes and their families in rural and remote Australia (NT, FNQ & Kimberley)

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Diabetes In Pregnancy Partnership

Northern Territory (NT) & Far North Queensland (FNQ) Diabetes in Pregnancy Clinical Registers

The Northern Territory Diabetes in Pregnancy (DIP) Clinical Register was established in 2011 and a separate but similar register was established in Far North Queensland (FNQ) in 2016. The aims of these registers are to improve the management and follow-up of women with diabetes in pregnancy, assist with quality assurance and to support health services planning by providing regular reports of aggregated data.

The NT Diabetes in Pregnancy Clinical Register 

All women with diabetes in pregnancy, who are over the age of 16 years and who give birth in the NT are included in the NT DIP Clinical Register. The NT DIP Clinical Register uses pre-existing and routinely collected data from primary health care services and hospitals. The NT DIP Clinical Register is supported by the NT Department of Health and the Aboriginal Medical Services Association of the NT (AMSANT).

Information from the NT DIP Clinical Register is used for health services planning, continuous quality improvement and to support clinical recalls of women who may benefit from primary care follow up after a pregnancy with diabetes.

Opt-out/Removal from the register

Women can request to have their information removed from the register at any time without any consequences to their health care.

Data Custodianship and Use

The data remains the property of the relevant partner organisation/health care provider. Biannual reports of aggregated (NT-wide) de-identified data are prepared by the NT & FNQ DIP Partnership Steering Committee for the purposes of quality assurance and are circulated to all relevant health care providers in their jurisdictions. Clinical audits in the NT, using NT DUP Clinical Register information may be undertaken following an application for consideration by the NT & FNQ DIP Steering Committee.

 

Project Forms, Policies and Guidelines

Contact

For any queries regarding the NT & FNQ DIP Clinical Registers, please contact ntdippartnership@menzies.edu.au

To opt-out/remove details from the NT DIP Clinical Register, please return  complete this form ( NT Diabetes in Pregnancy Clinical Register – opt out/removal of details) and return to: DIPClinicalRegister.THS@nt.gov.au. Alternatively, you may email the same address with the woman’s first and last name, date of birth and address to request to be removed/opt-out from the register.

If you have any concerns about the ethical conduct of this project, please contact the NT Human Research Ethics Committee on (08) 8946 8687 or NTHREC@menzies.edu.au.

 

 

FNQ DIP Partnership objectives:

  1. To establish and maintain the FNQ DIP Clinical Register to improve systems of care
  2. To develop enhanced models of diabetes in pregnancy care suitable to the FNQ regions and to augment health care professionals’ capacity for managing diabetes in pregnancy across all health organisations.

The FNQ DIP Clinical Register

All FNQ women with diabetes in pregnancy will be invited to be included in the Clinical Register by their health care professional. A referral with routine antenatal information can be emailed or faxed through to the project team. Information from the Clinical Register will be used to assist with planning and improving models of healthcare and service delivery for women with diabetes in pregnancy. The Clinical Register will also be used to communicate key diabetes in pregnancy related information to women’s health care providers, including for women who require postpartum follow up after pregnancy.

Project Forms

 

Models of care

The Clinical Register is implemented alongside models of care activities to improve systems of care and services for women with diabetes in pregnancy and their babies. Formative work was undertaken in early 2017 using a mixed methods approach including a cross-sectional survey (101 respondents) and 8 focus groups (61 participants) to map FNQ health practitioners’ experiences and describe knowledge regarding screening and management of diabetes in pregnancy. Several challenges were identified including communication, care coordination and differing information technology systems when women accessed diabetes in pregnancy care between health services. Our five Models of Care Components are:

  1. Increasing workforce capacity, skills and knowledge, and improving health literacy of health professionals and women
  2. Improve access to culturally and clinically appropriate health care
  3. Improving information management and communication
  4. Enhancing policy and guidelines
  5. Embedding the Clinical Register as a component within the models of care

Contact

Please don’t hesitate to contact us if you have any questions about the project: FNQ DIP Partnership Coordinator DIPPINQ@menzies.edu.au Phone: 07 4226 4639 If you have any concerns about the ethical conduct of this project, you may also contact the Secretariat of the Far North Queensland Human Research Ethics Committee: Cairns_Ethics@health.qld.gov.au Phone: 07 4226 5513

Funding

Thank you to National Health and Medical Research Council and the Global Alliance of Chronic Diseases (grant # 1092968)