The Irish College of GPs has welcomed the positive findings of a new report on the Chronic Disease Management Programme, published by the HSE.

The report found that the Programme was achieving a high level of impact on the health of the population and was freeing up capacity in the health service – reaching over 400,000 patients, with 91% of these now receiving routine chronic disease care within the community. 

The report stated that participants had 30% fewer ED attendances, 26% fewer hospital admissions, and 33% fewer GP out-of-hours visits. Other findings in the report include:

• The Programme is popular with GPs, with an uptake of 96.9%, and an uptake of 80% among patients

• The report showed a high level of mutimorbidity: 36.6% of patients in the programme had two or more chronic diseases 

• Diabetes foot exams were carried out on 98% of patients, an exceptionally high proportion

• There was excellent control of  HbA1c levels among diabetes patients in the Programme 

• There was good control of LDL cholesterol levels.

The report concludes the CDM data to date suggests it is an effective programme which is well supported by GPs and patients and achieves good lifestyle behaviour and clinical results.

Irish College of GP medical director, Dr Diarmuid Quinlan said the success of the CDM Programme stems from a strong sign-up by GPs, with 97% providing the service.

“This GP-led programme has been transformative for eligible patients living with type 2 diabetes, COPD, asthma and cardiovascular illness. The findings,” he said, “also demonstrate the power of general practice to deliver whole country large population health impacts when appropriately resourced.”

The report is available on www.hse.ie search under ‘third chronic disease report’.