April 2022 Bulletin
26/04/2022
Welcome to the April 2022 E-bulletin for the Thames Valley Children and Young People with Diabetes Network. It was great to be able to meet some of you earlier this month at the joint Thames Valley & Wessex study day in Southampton. Unfortunately we ran out of time on the agenda to cover the National Network update, and so I’ve put this bulletin together to keep you up to date with things that are happening nationally and regionally.
Best wishes
Myfi Champness
1. Save the date
Thames Valley Network meetings
9th June 9-10.30AM – TV Dietitians Meeting VIRTUAL
14th July 9-1PM – Thames Valley Network Meeting, Holiday Inn, High Wycombe (poll out currently to see whether colleagues would prefer to hold virtually)
Nov 2022 – TV and Wessex Network Meeting (TBC, likely Holiday Inn, High Wycombe)
2. Conferences Dates 2022/23
6 May, Aston University Conference Birmingham
Book tickets here
15 – 17 September, Rome, Italy
Register your interest here. Abstract deadline 19 April
13 – 16 October, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Registration to open Spring 2022
2-4 November 22, Belfast
Registration for this event is not yet open
Diabetes professional Care Conference
16 & 17 November, Olympia, London
Register your interest here
3. Staff Education
Diabetes UK
The Diabetes UK website have an excellent summary of all available postgraduate courses.
RCPCH Resources
QI Collaborative: A couple of paediatric diabetes specific podcasts are available on the RCPCH website to listen into:
There is a web page for units preparing for peer review that provides useful information on how to prepare here
4. Staff Information and Opportunities
Transition EOI
We are still waiting on further information about the process units will need to follow to express an interest in becoming a transition pilot site, but these will be forwarded onto clinical leads as soon as they are available. We are expecting a deadline of mid-June for fully costed expressions of interest to be submitted to NHSE, so if you would be interested I would encourage you to start having conversations now with adult teams and primary care to gain support. There is an expectation that there will be at least one pilot site for each of the seven NHSE regions.
NPDA data deadline
The final date for data submission to the NPDA is 27 May 2022. Further information can be found here. The 20/21 National Annual Report has now been published.
AIM 2- Access to Technology update
There are a number of updates for the national Aim2 workstream, which aims to improve access to clinically appropriate technology. I have provided a summary of these below, but full briefing can be found in the minutes to the April meeting here if you click on the link to April 22 National Communication. In summary:
- A new version of HCP device guides are being finalised
- A first version of patient/ family guides are being finalised
- A poster is now available for non-clinical colleagues (finance/management/commissioners) explaining the different forms of technology. You can access this here if you click on the link to April 22 National Communication
- An information pack for purchasers, encouraging sign up to the NHS Supply Chain, has been developed. It’s currently awaiting sign off and is expected to be circulated later in April
- NE & North Cumbria ICS is piloting ICS-wide procurement via the NHS Supply Chain
- The South West network is looking to pilot a regional ‘technology support’ role to support MDTs and families accessing technology
Digibete update
- An appointment reminder system will go live after testing during April. Clinics will be able to send a reminder through the app – training can be done with specific teams or at network meetings
- DigiBete now has a family engagement officer who can arrange family training
- User stats can be downloaded through the clinic portal – training can be provided as 1:1, team or network
- DigiBete can set up new clinic codes for any Young Adult clinics, so that when young people transfer across to their new team they can still access the App and resources and have immediate access to the young adult team contacts too (19-25yrs). If you would like to put your young adult colleagues in touch with DigiBete they would be happy to get them set up and offer them some training too
- An electronic school care plan, to be loaded onto the DeigBete platform, is in its final phase of testing. More information on roll out to follow
If you would like to find out more about any of the items above contact Maddie Julian maddie@digibete.org
JDRF Small Grant awards
JDRF UK Small Grant Awards offer competitive funding to support excellent proposals which meet the following:
- supports the development ofearly career researchers (basic scientists, clinicians or healthcare professionals including allied health professionals),
- supports new research or innovation with a clear impact pathway that has the potential to deliver significant contribution to the understanding or management of type 1 diabetes,
- leads on to further research or clinical practice change,
- gather critical data and resources to make novel research ideas more competitive for larger follow-on funding in the field of type 1 diabetes,
- take into consideration the views and needs of people with type 1 diabetes.
Full details available via this link JDRF Small Grant Awards
5. CYP, Parents and Carers Information and Events
Network Parents Group on Facebook
The Thames Valley and Wessex Paediatric Diabetes Network Parents Group is a private group available for parents of CYP with Diabetes in the Network. A poster will be sent out to all units soon to advertise this to parent carers.
How to manage a mammoth
An animation which tells the story of Jake, his mum and Mell the Mammoth as they try to find ways to manage Jake’s diabetes is available on the Digibete app or via their website.
Thank you for taking the time to read through this bulletin. Please do let me know if you have news items that you would like to share across the Network for future editions.
Best wishes
Myfi