Creating a Tasmanian Diabetes Atlas to improve systems of diabetes care

Background: The need for coordinated healthcare to manage diabetes and its associated range of complications underpins the creation of this atlas. Improving a diabetes system of care requires sound regional diabetes statistics measuring e.g. the range of glycaemic control and the level of potentially-preventable hospitalisations due to diabetic complications. This diabetes atlas is being developed to add more detail, by exploring disparate data sources, to the picture of people with diabetes across Tasmania. The mapping of an entire Australian state which includes general practice data has not been undertaken before.

Aims: To produce an atlas of diabetes in Tasmania to provide a broader understanding of disease patterns and relate this to the systems of care for people with diabetes across Tasmania.

Method: Analysis of retrospective, routinely-collected data from the National Diabetes Service Scheme Tasmanian register, Tasmanian general practices via MedicineInsight, the Tasmanian Health Service, and pathology laboratories across Tasmania from 2010-present.

Results: The number of people with diabetes in Tasmania is estimated at 27 000-33 000. Our poster will reveal a more refined view of their distribution across Tasmania, their level of glycaemic control and their rate of potentially-preventable hospitalisations.

Conclusion: The Tasmanian diabetes atlas shows it is possible to create a better understanding of diabetes and the systems of diabetes care by using multiple datasets of routinely collected data, including general practice data. The Tasmanian Diabetes Atlas concept is recommended to map other diseases and those with complex comorbidities.