The diabetic, the hospital and primary care

In a survey of mainly elderly patients discharged from a hospital diabetic clinic, it was found that 41 per cent were being seen by the general practitioner only when required or not at all, 36 per cent were being seen fairly regularly, and 23 per cent at routine appointments.

The transfer from hospital to primary care was popular with two thirds of these patients, mainly because of the time, trouble, and money they saved in no longer travelling to hospital.

Over 20 per cent of patients thought they had been discharged from the diabetic clinic because they were cured, a further 37 per cent thought they could be cured, about a third did not test their urine, and a similar proportion admitted that they did not keep to their diet.

Of 204 known diabetics examined in general practice, about half had high blood sugars, a third of lower limbs had undoubted signs of peripheral vascular disease, and one fifth of the sample had both.