ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: To compare the achievement of NICE guidelines for diabetic care at two hospitals in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Grimsby, United Kingdom. METHODS: Electronic records of type 2 diabetic patients followed up at internal medicine clinics at King Abdulaziz Medical City (KAMC), Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Diana Princess of Wales Hospital (DPWH), Grimsby, United Kingdom were studied and compared for meeting the NICE standards of diabetic care regarding HbAlc, lipid profile, hypertension and urine dipstick testing and control. RESULTS: Out of 100 patients studied at each hospital, yearly blood pressure recording, HbA1c, lipid profile and urine dipstick testing were done in 95, 89, 84, 51 and 100, 81, 92, 95 percent at KAMC and DPWH, respectively. Patients achieving the NICE targets for overall, systolic, diastolic blood pressure and HbA1c screening at the two hospitals were 53, 55, 18 and 46, 39, 35 % respectively. For lipid profile, those who achieved the NICE targets for total cholesterol and LDL-C for two hospitals were 54, 51 and 71, 75% respectively. CONCLUSION: NICE standards of diabetic care are not met in many of the patients in Saudi Arabia as well as United Kingdom, indicating that these standards are easy to recommend than to achieve. There is a need to investigate the reasons for this failure so as to adopt realistic targets and better multidisciplinary approach to achieve them.
