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Delay pattern analysis of 406 patients with diabetes or thyroid disease in one general practice over 10 years

John Holden, David Tatham

Delay pattern analysis is a form of significant event audit. It provides comparative information about the process of diagnosis, a subject seldom covered in audit. Practices should consider investigating the causes of diagnostic delay for those patients with endocrine disease when this is longer than six months. This should normally be a small number each year. Patients with previous hyperthyroidism should have thyroid function tests every 1–2 years. Most patients (69%) were diagnosed in general practice.