Spotlight QI: RCPCH National Audit Programmes – NPDA
The second of our spotlights on the HQIP-commissioned RCPCH national audit programmes for Clinical Audit Awareness Week 23-27 November 2020.
As part of Clinical Audit Awareness Week 23-27 November 2020, we highlight the work of the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit (NPDA) and development of the National Diabetes Quality Programme in recent years.
NPDA
The NPDA works with UK hospitals to measure the health outcomes and experiences of children with diabetes in England and Wales. The annual reports highlight key findings on the quality of care for children and young people with diabetes mellitus in England and Wales.
NPDA Results Online enables open access to annual summary reports for paediatric diabetes units from the 2014-15 audit year onwards. Users can view and compare unit, region and network data for specific NPDA audit measures, download individual charts or funnel plots, and view longitudinal data on median HbA1c levels of paediatric diabetes units.
Watch a summary for parents and carers of the NPDA 2018-19 Annual Report below:
As part of the NPDA programme, a pilot national diabetes QI collaborative was launched in 2017. Inspired by a national QI collaborative in Sweden that successfully accelerated improvement in national outcomes between 2010-2012, the aim of this breakthrough QI collaborative is to provide multidisciplinary teams with the support and tools to identify, design and analyse their own interventions specific to the needs of the children and young people and their families that they care for.
Using audit data to drive improvement, the nine-month programme of training in QI methodology is led by an expert QI trainer and comprises four events, with a final celebratory day where units share their QI initiatives. The national diabetes QI collaborative is now in its 12th wave with over 100 multidisciplinary teams having now received formal QI training together.
Examples of QI work from the participating teams include:
- Improving HbA1c For Children and Young People Living With Diabetes
- National Diabetes Quality Improvement Pilot: Our QI Journey So Far
National Diabetes Quality Programme
In 2018, the national diabetes QI collaborative became part of the wider National Diabetes Quality Programme, a 4-year programme of annual self-assessment, peer review and QI activity. In the NPDA report 2020, it was noted that the national average HbA1c fell from 64.0 mmol/mol to 61.5 mmol/mol between 2017/18 and 2018/19.
Details of how programme delivery and ethos are being maintained during the COVID-19 pandemic, and development of a new virtual approach to the quality assurance process and QI collaborative were recently published in the Diabetes Care for Children & Young People journal. Find out more about the National Diabetes Quality Programme on the RCPCH website here.
Watch a recent webinar on the 2020 NPDA Parent and Patient Reported Experience Measures report below: