New audit reveals leading diabetes inpatient harms
Severe hypoglycaemic episodes are the leading diabetes-related inpatient emergency, according to a new snapshot audit.
The first nationwide survey of harms affecting people with diabetes in hospital took place in September last year as a bolt-on to the National Diabetes Inpatient Audit (NaDIA), which is held every two years, with the latest one taking place this autumn.
The new NaDIA-Harms audit, also covers England and Wales, and is a continuous collection of hospital characteristics on four common complications which might happen to people with diabetes during an inpatient stay.
A total of 77 trusts have submitted data, with 750 incidents recorded so far, including:
- 525 hypo rescues
- 125 DKA episodes
- 15 incidents of hyperosmolar hyperglycaemic state
- 80 diabetic foot ulcers
The numbers have been rounded to the nearest five. Commenting on the findings, NHS Digital said: “The real number of inpatient harms is likely to be considerably higher, given that at this early stage not all NHS trusts in England have registered and many have only recently begun to submit.”
To access the full 2018 NADIA-Harms report, click here.
NaDIA measures the quality of diabetes care provided to people with diabetes while they are admitted to hospital whatever the cause, and aims to support quality improvement.
The last full NaDIA took place in 2017, with the results released in March last year. The findings revealed that more than a quarter of hospital sites do not have dedicated diabetes inpatient specialist nurses.