Top results for children's diabetes team
Derbyshire Children’s Hospital’s Diabetes team have achieved their best ever results in the latest RCPCH National Paediatric Diabetes audit (NPDA) – helping to improve outcomes for children and young people with diabetes.
HbA1c measures how much glucose is attached to the protein haemoglobin in your red blood cells over the past 2-3 months.
The higher the average blood glucose is, the higher the HbA1c, with increased levels leading to a greater risk of developing diabetes-related complications in the future.
With this in mind, UHDB is extremely proud to have seen the Derby team achieve the joint 5th lowest median HbA1c score for its patients, out of 175 hospital units across England and Wales in the 2018/19 Audit.
The median HbA1c score of 56.5mmol/mol is a huge improvement on the 61mmol/mol score the previous year.
Patients with Type 1 diabetes have their HbA1c tested four times a year, using a simple finger prick test, with the Children’s Diabetes team working tirelessly to empower these young patients to “become the experts of their condition” and manage it independently.
Staff have introduced a number of different projects to educate patients about their condition and the importance of monitoring their blood sugar levels, with the whole team also undertaking RCPCH (Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health) Quality Improvement training.
Wendy Barber, Lead Children’s Diabetes Dietitian, said: “We are all absolutely delighted with this fantastic result, with the entire team playing major roles to help deliver our best ever results. Most importantly, however, this is down to our amazing patients, who have all put in a tremendous amount of work.
“We have introduced a number of projects to educate our patients and empower them to become the experts of their condition. It has been fantastic to see how much our patients have engaged with this to manage their own blood sugar levels, so we couldn’t be any happier as a team.”