As World Diabetes Day gets underway, Dr Nicky Kime - a Senior Research Fellow working with Leeds Metropolitan University’s award-winning Getting Sorted Enterprise Unit which specialises in research with children with type 1 diabetes – discusses the future launch of an MSc Advanced Diabetes Educator course at Leeds Met, the first of its kind in the UK.

Diabetes continues to be a public health priority around the world, but millions of adults and children and young people, including in the UK, do not receive the diabetes care that they are entitled to. As the number of children and young people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the UK increases, there will be a growing demand for more healthcare professionals who require advanced training to tackle this rising health concern.

Leeds Metropolitan University is launching a new MSc Advanced Diabetes Educator course, the first of its kind in the UK. The course has been developed with national and international education institutions and clinicians, who offer care to children and young people with diabetes. This innovative and much needed course will provide a unique combination of health, education and psychological principles related to diabetes self-management education. Using a holistic approach and placing the family at the centre of care, the focus will be on how diabetes affects them socially, physically and mentally, from diagnosis onwards.

Dieticians, psychologists and nurses who are working full-time in children's diabetes care are welcome to apply for the course. They will be given the expertise to become an Advanced Diabetes Educator who can communicate complex clinical, psychosocial and dietetic information to children, young people and families with diverse needs and learning abilities, encouraging them to incorporate practical self-management skills into their everyday lives.