South Australian Divisions of General Practice supporting diabetes care: insights from reporting data

The study used public reporting data supplied by the South Australian Divisions of General Practice to examine their role and significance in supporting diabetes care in general practice. Data sources included the Annual Survey of Divisions 2002-07, and Divisions 12-month reports against National Performance Indicators for 2006-07. Results showed that Divisions combine collaboration, practice support and GP education approaches to support optimal diabetes care within general practice. Divisions commonly described their collaborative achievements in terms of connecting general practice with other diabetes providers, services, information and resources. Practice support and educational activities, which were highly interrelated, often focussed on strengthening use of chronic disease Medical Benefit Schedule items, practice nurse roles and computer and information management systems. In this way, Divisions strengthened primary care team functioning to achieve good communication and consistent standards of care between team members. Divisions detailed a range of strategies that worked well in delivering these practice-level outcomes, with implications for wider Network learning and development. These publicly available data sources provide scope for decision makers and researchers to explore other aspects of Divisions' roles and performance.