ABCD Omnipod Worldwide Audit

This audit is now completed though analysis of the data continues, and publications can be viewed here.

ABCD worldwide Omnipod audit

Following the success of the first audit of a device, the FreeStyle Libre audit, this audit was the fourth device related audit and launched before the end 2021. Insights into the sorts of helpful information learned from previous ABCD audits that has helped improve patient care in the past, can be gained through this link: https://abcd.care/all-abcd-audit-publications, though this is by no means comprehensive: Whilst the audit was live, centres worldwide were invited to join the Omnipod audit.

About the ABCD worldwide Omnipod audit 

Omnipod is a tubeless insulin pump system. On the right you will find examples of findings from published research suggesting improvements in glycaemic control, acute diabetes complications and quality of life associated with this technology rather than multiple daily insulin injections or CSII with a tubed insulin pump. As with previous ABCD audits both of therapies and devices, the aim of this audit was to establish the extent to which such published findings would also be found when the Omnipod system was used in real clinical practice in the UK and elsewhere. The audit had a number of objectives.

Web-based audit tool 

The audit tool for the Omnipod audit was similar to that being used for the other ABCD audits. The tool was easy to use. All data was encrypted and secured to a high level and is fully GDPR compliant meaning it had optimum security for patient identifiable data with regard to your own patients but anonymised the data when it was utilised in the national and global audit. There were some special features with regard to the data export both for your own local analysis and for the nationwide analysis. The export now allowed you to choose which data to download for analysis as well as providing all data. It also allowed you to choose to download the data aggregated to different time points.

Structure of the audit – centres and sites 

For this audit the concept of centres and sites was utilised in the same way as in the other ABCD audits. Typically, a centre might be an NHS Trust. Sites might be hospitals associated with that Trust, and/or health centres or GP surgeries in the local vicinity. If set up in this structure, designated leaders of the local audit would be given access to download the anonymised data of all the patients associated with the centre for more powerful local analysis of data involving higher numbers. Findings so made through such local analysis could be put forward for further testing on the full national dataset. Outside the UK, instead of centres and sites, contributors were registered as country and centre within that country.

Caldicott Guardian approval 

The ABCD audit programme had Caldicott Guardian approval. The programme is audit not research. The NHS encourages audit of clinical practice and there are strict guidelines which we follow, in particular that we only to collect data from routine clinical practice, and analysis is of data which is anonymised.

Collect data on-line or via paper forms 

The on-line audit tool was so easy to use that live data entry in clinic was a real option to be considered. Otherwise, to facilitate data collection during clinics there were two paper forms which exactly match the data that could be entered into the audit tool.