Website launched to help children with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes

Children and young people who have been recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes can seek help and advice from a new website.
Digibete is an online video resource website which has been created to help families ease their fears and anxieties about the condition by the diabetes team at Leeds Children’s Hospital.
Resources are still being added, but the current information features videos show people the equipment they may need when leaving hospital, how to treat low blood glucose levels and a guide to carbohydrate counting.
Dr Fiona Campbell, who is a consultant pediatrician and diabetologist and also the clinical lead for the website, said: “We understand that a journey with a young person with diabetes can actually be an anxious time and we thought the development of a series of video clips would be very helpful at building confidence and the skills required to look after your young person that has had this diagnosis made.”
There are currently 24,000 children living in the UK with type 1 diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that causes the insulin producing beta cells in the pancreas to be destroyed, preventing the body from being able to produce enough insulin to adequately regulate blood glucose levels.
Because type 1 diabetes causes the loss of insulin production, it therefore requires regular insulin administration either by injection or by insulin pump.
The DigiBete team is compiled of various experienced people from the field of diabetes, who have personal experience of the condition.
Dr Campbell added: “We are very keen to take our education and training into the digital age and we’ve been very fortunate to partner with parents of a young person who attends our clinic in taking this ambition through to fruition.
“We are very conscious that we have to move into a digital age and we have to produce resources that are useful and can be accessed at any time of the day or night.”