The SEREN structured education programme developed by healthcare professionals and parent representatives from across Wales won the Empowering People with Diabetes – Children, Young People and Emerging Adults prize at the 2017 Quality in Care (QiC) Diabetes Awards.
SEREN is a national diabetes education programme for children and young people with Type 1 Diabetes. The first modules are delivered over the 6-8 weeks following diagnosis and aim to improve CYP’s knowledge and understanding of diabetes, empowering them to manage their diabetes from day one. The programme includes a full curriculum with lesson plans for staff, a workbook for the young person, educator records to track progress and an array of supporting teaching resources.
(Members of the SEREN project group receive the award. From L-R, Philip Newland-Jones (Awards host), Beth Jones, SEREN project support officer, Dr Judith Reed-Screen, senior clinical psychologist, Dr Nirupa D’Souza, consultant paediatrician)
In awarding the prize to the Children and Young People’s wales Diabetes Network, the judges said: “[SEREN] is completely child-centred and the judges loved this. It’s broad, clearly impactful and it revolves around child’s ability to understand rather than the age. It’s very well-put together for the short time period and the workbooks make it easy for parents and healthcare professionals to track progress.”
Dr Hubert Bland, country medical chair and medical head diabetes and cardiovascular, Sanofi UK, said: “Sanofi Diabetes are pleased to support the QiC Programme again in 2017 and to be part of recognising and valuing those individuals, teams, Trusts and partnerships who demonstrate quality in care for their patients with diabetes”
The team has received many messages of support and congratulations from within Wales as well. Allison Williams, Chair of the All-Wales Diabetes Implementation Group called it “a fantastic achievement”, and Dr Julia Platts, Clinical Lead for Diabetes in Wales said “It is a wonderful accolade”, adding “It is so encouraging to see what is possible to achieve.” Professor Chris Jones, the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Wales, has told the group “It is heartening to see such an innovative and organic service development recognised on a UK-wide basis.”
SEREN is now used by all paediatric diabetes teams across Wales, ensuring children and young people receive the same information wherever they live in the country. It has also been made available to paediatric teams outside Wales.