REGINA — Health Minister Dustin Duncan says there is no need to create a diabetic registry despite the provincial auditor taking the health ministry to task for not knowing how many diabetics are in Saskatchewan or if they’re receiving adequate care.

In her report released Tuesday, Bonnie Lysyk spoke about an audit that was done to determine if the ministry and regional health authorities had effective strategies for preventing diabetes-related health complications.

“We found that the Ministry of Health had no sustainable and actionable work plan in this area, despite 15 years of diabetes-specific initiatives and planning,” Lysyk said. “The ministry does not know who has diabetes, the full cost of health care for people with diabetes in the province, if people with diabetes receive all the recommended care that could reduce their risk of developing diabetes-related complications, and whether the recommended care is delivered effectively and consistently throughout Saskatchewan.”

Without that information, Lysyk said it is difficult for the ministry and regional health authorities to determine if their programs are effective, or if they are on track to meet the long-term provincial goal of having 80 per cent of people with chronic diseases, including diabetes, receive care consistent with provincial standards by 2017.

Duncan accepts the auditor’s recommendations, but noted the province participates in the National Chronic Disease Surveillance System.

“That system links our data to determine the number of new and existing cases of specific chronic conditions including diabetes,” he said Wednesday. “We also are working on implementing our electronic medical records so that will be an important tool for physicians and clinicians to be able to essentially create their own registries for certain patient populations, including people who have diabetes or other chronic conditions.”

The Canadian Diabetes Association estimates 80,000 Saskatchewan residents are currently diagnosed with diabetes. The CDA projects that number will increase to 111,000 by 2020 and supports a diabetes registry.

“We would ask the minister of health to look at the report as a call to action on behalf of those individuals living with diabetes or those with pre-diabetes as those numbers are going to continue to grow markedly,” said Warren Wagner, regional director of the Saskatchewan division of the Canadian Diabetes Association.

He said the auditor’s report is in line with the CDA’s recommendation that the health ministry develop a “diabetes pathway” to delay or prevent the serious and costly complications of diabetes, which include heart attack, stroke, kidney failure, limb amputation and blindness.

The CDA says all people with diabetes in Saskatchewan require quicker, reliable and better coordinated access to ongoing education and medical professionals.

“This would be a clear pathway from diagnosis to diabetes education and medical treatment throughout the course of the disease,” Wagner said. “These type of pathways already exist for other issues such as surgery. It’s not developing a new process, it’s applying an existing methodology to the issue of diabetes.”

The ministry is considering a diabetes pathway as part of chronic disease management, but for very specific types of care.

“It might be a pathway for ensuring proper footcare for people who have diabetes so we can reduce the number of unnecessary amputations due to diabetes,” Duncan said.

Lysyk was also critical of the province’s progress in implementing the electronic health record (EHR).

The auditor’s report noted the ministry’s goal in 2009 was to make an EHR system available to all Saskatchewan residents by 2014 at a cost of $600 million. At the end of March, more than two thirds of that budget — $415 million — had been spent on the EHR project, but it is only 30 per cent complete.

“The good news in Saskatchewan is that 54 per cent of physicians are on the electronic medical record and that’s one of the highest penetration rates in Canada,” Duncan said. “We know there is more work to be done and primary health-care teams are at about 43 per cent … That’s only one component of the work being done.”

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