Health systems invest in diabetes quality improvement (QI) programmes to reduce the gap between research evidence of optimal care and current care.1 Examples of commonly used QI strategies in diabetes include programmes to measure and report quality of care (ie, audit and feedback initiatives), implementation of clinician and patient education, and reminder systems. A recent systematic review of randomised trials of QI programmes indicates that they can successfully improve quality of diabetes care and patient outcomes.2 Changes in surrogate markers such as blood glucose control, blood pressure or cholesterol levels are used to measure QI intervention effectiveness.2

However, investments in QI strategies are only worthwhile if the programmes that effectively improve care are sustained after trial completion.3. To read the full article, log in using your NHS OpenAthens details.