Diabetes Risk Factor Reduction (Staff)

Project commencement date:

Project completion date:

Whilst working closely with Diabetes Australia, Tasmania, the needs assessment was used to inform the development of prevention and self-management services for people with pre-diabetes, or with significant risk factors for developing Type 2 Diabetes

Objectives and Priorities

In 2000 the first national study of diabetes in Australia estimated that in Tasmania 25,000 adults aged 25 years and over had diabetes (8.3%), with half not knowing they had the disease. A further 50,000 adults (16.4%) had pre-diabetes, which put them at moderate to high risk for developing diabetes or cardiovascular disease.

Type 2 diabetes accounts for 85-90 per cent of all cases of diabetes and therefore the majority of the health and cost burden of the condition. The number of people with type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes was expected to continue to grow rapidly as the population ages and becomes more overweight and less physically active.

The current provision of health services in Tasmania needed to change in order to meet the requirements of a community where there is increasing demand for the prevention and management of chronic diseases. Action needed to be taken to prevent or delay the onset of type 2 diabetes, identify early those people with or at risk of developing diabetes and improve integration of care planning.

UDRH Lecturer in Rural Health Dr Pat Millar, assisted by Dr Rosa McManamey, worked with Drs Peter Orpin and Erica Bell and a multidisciplinary Project Steering Committee. The project aimed to undertake a needs assessment and gap analysis of services for people with pre-diabetes. This included a literature review, mapping of services currently available in Tasmania for prevention/reducing risk factors for Type 2 diabetes, a review of services from other jurisdictions, both nationally and internationally, consultation with key stakeholders and consumers about potential service models and referral mechanisms, and the development of a detailed report with recommendations and a proposed service model.