Leeds Beckett funding success could change the lives of children and young people with type 1 diabetes

This week the adapted UK Model of Care will begin to be delivered to newly diagnosed children and young people with type 1 diabetes after Liz Webster, Course Leader of the Leeds Beckett’s MSc Advanced Diabetes Educator (Children, Young People and Families) course was last month granted the cash injection by Novo Nordisk, Sanofi and Johnson & Johnson.

Liz commented: “Diabetes continues to be a global public health priority. Germany is widely considered to have one of the best diabetes healthcare frameworks in the world for children and young people with type 1 diabetes and has more than 2,600 qualified Certified Diabetes Educators specifically trained in the management and care of diabetes.

“Working in partnership with the Leeds Children’s Hospital, this funding allows us to train and educate the Children’s Diabetes Team and do six months’ worth of evidence analysis - a proof of concept – which we believe will show that the German Model of Care is right for the future of treatment in the UK for children and young people. If the UK was to fully adopt the German model it would change the face of diabetes care across the country, and in turn change the lives of those living with diabetes, and the lives of their family. This leap of faith in our work, is the first step towards that happening.”

Last week Professor Karin Lange – one of Europe’s leading psychologists in children and young people’s diabetes - who is Head of the Department of Medical Psychology at Hannover Medical School in Germany and also teaches on the Leeds Beckett MSc Advanced Diabetes Educator (Children, Young People and Families), worked alongside Liz – the project lead  and Dr Fiona Campbell, Lead Consultant and National Clinical Lead for Children’s and Young People’s Diabetes Network - to train and educate health care practitioners at Leeds Children’s Diabetes Centre so they can adapt to the UK Model of Care, based on the German Model of Care.

Working to a six month timeframe, the feasibility study will run until the end of June 2015, and will include three months of analysis by Liz and her team.

Liz added: “Myself and colleagues from Leeds Beckett and Dr Fiona Campbell visited the Hannover team and observed the German Model of Care in action. In addition we worked closely with Professor Lange and Roche International to translate the German diabetes curriculum and resources into English. The curriculum and resources are now ready to be implemented.

“The adapted UK Model of Care has now just begun to be delivered at Leeds Children’s Diabetes Centre to all newly diagnosed children and young people, which will allow us to test the effectiveness and efficacy of the model.

“Benefits to the newly diagnosed children and young people include that they will be provided with intensive self-management skills training from day one, improving glycaemic control in the first year of their diagnosis and in the long term. This will also help to reduce future complications and the risk of early death, improving their quality of life and wellbeing.”

Dr Campbell, commented: “The health care practitioners at Leeds Children’s Diabetes Centre are very excited about this fantastic opportunity to be taught by Professor Lange. In our diabetes team at Leeds Children's Hospital we are constantly striving to find new and innovative ways of helping the children and young people self-manage their diabetes with a view to them achieving the best outcomes from the very start of their journey of living with this condition. By benchmarking our outcomes with the best in Europe we decided to visit Hannover Children's Hospital.

Their model of care appeared to be very successful and so we embarked on this feasibility study to see whether the same model of care could be delivered in our NHS clinics in the UK, and so far this looks entirely achievable.”

In September 2014, Leeds Beckett University launched the MSc Advanced Diabetes Educator course, which was developed by Liz and Dr Nicky Kime, a Senior Research Fellow at Leeds Beckett, alongside clinical and key healthcare professional education leads. They include: Dr Fiona Campbell a Consultant Paediatrician at Leeds Children's Hospital, part of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; Professor Lange and her colleague Dr Kasia Zinken – a Lecturer in Medical Psychology. Professor Lange was one of the founded members of the equivalent course in Germany, on which the MSc’s principles and philosophical framework is based.

Liz said: “The number of children and young people diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in the UK is on the rise. This course enables students to develop and advance their expertise as educators to communicate complex clinical, psychosocial and dietetic information to children, young people and families who have very diverse needs which are constantly changing as children grow and develop. They will also learn to adopt a holistic approach to the care and support of children, young people and families, with a focus on how diabetes affects them socially, physically and mentally. They will learn the importance of placing the family at the centre of care and become an expert in enabling families to incorporate practical self-management skills into their everyday lives.”

For more information about the MSc please visit our online prospectus.