An audit of diabetic inpatient care

An audit of diabetic inpatients in a district general hospital over a period of one month revealed that 6% of all admissions were diabetic; half of these were due to diabetes or diabetic‐related complications. Average length of stay was 11.1 days as compared to 6.95 days for all patients.

Increased length of stay was mainly attributable to diabetic foot disease, with an average length of stay of 17.8 days.

Management of non‐medical diabetic admissions was an important part of the diabetic team's workload.