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Bid success could change the face of paediatric diabetes healthcare
The team - which specialises in participatory research with children and young people with type 1 diabetes - has joined forces with six European partner organisations to win a bid of 393,000 euros from the Leonardo da Vinci Transfer of Innovation programme, to invest into the development of a Diabetes Educator Course.
The funding will be divided between project leaders Getting Sorted, and their partners in Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Greece and they will work together to research and implement the programme.
Speaking about the news, Director of Getting Sorted, Liz Webster, said: "We are beyond thrilled to have been successful in winning this bid. The interest of the project is set against a background where the UK has one of the poorest 'outcome' records for children and young people with type 1 diabetes across the EU. Many EU countries have clinical outcomes that are over three times better than those in the UK. The lack of an untrained workforce both in the UK and the EU has a significant impact on the quality of care that children and young people currently receive.
"The aim of the project is to align EU countries to provide standardised, accredited training for healthcare professionals in relation to treating children and young people with type 1 diabetes. Our objectives are to work with our European partners and conduct research to identify the barriers and facilitators for the creation of the training curriculum. We are working to develop an EU accredited Certified Diabetes Educator Course and to establish an accreditation process for the Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) role with agreed assessment, validation and recognition procedures.
"This will address the need for diabetes training and result in greater learning opportunities for healthcare professionals. Aligning the education and training across EU countries will result in a highly qualified workforce trained in the delivery of paediatric diabetes education.
"Conducting the research in different cultural settings will also facilitate transferability to other EU countries and will result in improved outcomes for children and young people with type 1 and their families across Europe."
Dr Nicky Kime, a Senior Research Fellow at Leeds Metropolitan working with Getting Sorted, added: "This project will have a positive impact on the lives of children and young people with type 1 diabetes and their families across the EU. In the short-term it will enhance the provision of education and training for health care professionals working in paediatric diabetes throughout Europe. In the long-term, an appropriately trained workforce across the EU countries will result in a reduction in morbidity and mortality for those affected by type 1. In terms of sustainability there will be further opportunities to develop the course, for example, it is feasible that the accredited course and the established training product could be applied to adult diabetes services and to other health conditions."