New project to enhance paediatric diabetes healthcare

The quality of care of young people with diabetes both in the UK and Europe could soon be significantly improved by the development of a new training programme for healthcare professionals working in paediatric diabetes.
Getting Sorted, an award-winning diabetes enterprise unit from Leeds Metropolitan University, and six partnering European organisations have won a bid of 393,000 euros from the Leonardo da Vinci Transfer of Innovation programme to “provide standardised, accredited training” for healthcare professionals across the EU “in relation to treating children and young people with type 1 diabetes”.
Liz Webster, Director of Getting Sorted, which specialises in participatory research with young type 1 diabetes patients, said the team were “beyond thrilled to have been successful in winning this bid.
“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,” she explained.
“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.
Dr Nicky Kimen, a Senior Research Fellow at Leeds Metropolitan working with Getting Sorted, said the project will have “a positive impact on the lives of children/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 healthcare professionals working in paediatric diabetes throughout Europen,” she commented, adding that an appropriately trained workforce across the EU nations in the long-term “will result in a reduction in morbidity and mortality for those affected by type 1 diabetes”.