Using Population Health Management to improve screening of women with history of gestational diabetes in an urban setting

Background: The human and financial costs of diabetes related illness and treatment are significant and increasing. This is also true of women who develop gestational diabetes in pregnancy, the majority of which are subsequently likely to develop type 2 diabetes. The National Institute for Health & Care Excellence (NICE) guidance sets out clear expectations of the care pregnant women should receive. However, evidence suggests reality is a long way from this guidance. Methods: Data was collected from the population health management system covering the London borough of Lewisham. This was used to compare actual care with NICE guidance. The results were used to target cultural appropriate interventions to improve care. Results: The care pregnant women were receiving fell a long way short of NICE guidance, with 84% of women not being screened at the initial 3 months postpartum and 99% of women not being screened annually. This is significantly worse than the UK average. Conclusion: Using population health management is beneficial in identifying the gap between actual care and best practice. The process of examining the data through population health management also enable targeted culturally appropriate interventions.