Sharing specialist skills for diabetes in an inner city: a comparison of two primary care organisations over 4 years.

Objective: To evaluate the effects of organizational change and sharing of specialist skills and information technology for diabetes in two primary care groups (PCGs) over 4 years.

Methods: In PCG-A, an intervention comprised dedicated specialist sessions in primary care, clinical guidelines, educational meetings for professionals and a shared diabetes electronic patient record (EPR). Comparison was made with the neighbouring PCG-B as control.