Diabetes mellitus (DM) and hypertension (HT) are major causes of morbidity and among the top 10 causes of deaths in Hong Kong in 2008 (Department of Health 2009). The Hospital Authority (HA) has initiated service improvement through introducing the patient empowerment programme (PEP) to improve the quality of care (QOC) for DM and HT patients. The evaluation on the QOC is an essential part of the programme in order to inform future policy. The Family Medicine Unit (FMU) of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) has been appointed by the HA to carry out the evaluation of the QOC of the programme.

The Action Learning and Audit Spiral methodologies to measure whether the target standard of care intended by the PEP programme is achieved. Each PEP participating clinic and non-government organization (NGO) will be invited to complete a structured evaluation questionnaire. The data of all patients who have enrolled into the PEP for more than one year will be included in the evaluation on the process and outcomes of care. A hundred and thirty participants will be followed up by telephone to evaluate the effect of the programme in quality of life (QOL), patient enablement, and global rating of change in health condition at baseline and 6 months after enrolment. Data on the process of care will be retrieved from the HA medical records. Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcomes are the proportion of participants who have received the planned process of care and achieved the target HbA1c and blood pressure levels.

Data Analysis: Descriptive statistics on proportions meeting the QOC criteria will be calculated. The changes in clinical, service, and patient reported outcomes at 6 and 12 months will assessed by paired sample t-test. The audit cycle will be repeated annually over a period of 5 years.

Results: The QOC of the PEP programme will be determined. Areas of deficiency and possible areas for quality enhancement will be identified. Conclusion: The results of this study will provide empirical evidence on whether the HA's PEP programme can enhance QOC for patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) or hypertension (HT). The information will be used to guide service planning and policy decision making.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Eligible patients who are ambulatory, have stable mental and emotional conditions, and follow up at general outpatients clinics (GOPC) and family medicine specialist clinics (FMSC) regularly will be recruited for the PEP programme.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients will be excluded if they have severe heart failure, end stage renal failure (ESRF) or advanced eye diseases, are unable to understand or communicate in Chinese language, or refuse to give consent.

All patients who have been enrolled into the PEP programme will be included in the evaluation on process of care; whereas all enrolled subjects who have been recruited for more than 12 months in the programme will be included in the evaluation on the clinical outcomes of care. An equal number of a random sample of eligible subjects who refused to take part in the PEP will be used as controls for the evaluation on the clinical outcomes of care.