Geography does not limit optimal diabetes care: Use of a tertiary centre model of care in an outreach service for type 1 diabetes mellitus

Abstract

Aim Young people with type 1 diabetes mellitus living in rural and regional Australia have previously been shown to have limited access to specialised diabetes services. The Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne has been running diabetes outreach clinics to Western Victoria, Australia, for over 13 years. We aim to evaluate this service by comparing the outcomes of three outreach clinics with our urban diabetes clinic at the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne. Methods We examine our tertiary, multidisciplinary team-based model of care, where visiting specialist medical staff work alongside local allied health teams. The local teams provide interim care between clinics utilising the same protoc..