A pushing chronic care forward in Abu Dhabi by identifying priorities and addressing barriers: a modified Delphi technique

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to elucidate the top five key priorities and barriers to chronic care in the health system of Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). DESIGN: A modified Delphi study was performed to reach consensus on priority areas and barriers to the development of the Chronic Care Model in the health system of Abu Dhabi. Individual wireless audience response devices (keypads) linked to a computer were used to reduce 28 priorities and 20 barriers to the top five during three iterative rounds over three consecutive days. SETTING: Chronic care services for patients with diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer, in both private and publicly funded healthcare services in the emirate of Abu Dhabi. PARTICIPANTS: A purposive sample of 20 health systems’ experts were recruited. They were front-line healthcare workers from the public and private sector working in the delivery of care for patients with diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. RESULTS: The ‘overall organizational leadership in chronic illness care’ was ranked as the most important priority to address (26.3%) and ‘patient compliance’ was ranked as the most important barrier (36.8%) to the development of the Chronic Care Model. CONCLUSIONS: This study has identified the current priorities and barriers to improving chronic care within Abu Dhabi’s healthcare system. Our paper addresses the UAE’s 2021 Agenda of achieving a world-class healthcare system, and findings may help inform strategic changes required to achieve this mission.