Health bulletin
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To ascertain whether local guidelines for diabetes management influence the content of GP referral letters to a diabetes specialist clinic. ⋯ Diabetes guidelines per se appeared to have very little effect on increasing the information provided in GP referral letters on relevant medical problems and did not appear to have influenced screening for complications in patients with Type 2 diabetes by GPs before specialist referral. Methods other than the issue of written guidelines are required to achieve optimal assessment of diabetic patients in the community.