The 10 units which make up the East Midlands Paediatric Diabetes Network have united in order to work towards providing excellent diabetes services for the children and young people across the 5 counties which make up the East Midlands. 

As a network we are aware of the local variances within the counties and we aim to address these by working together with engagement from all key stakeholders to deliver quality care now to improve the lives of our children with diabetes resulting in healthy productive adults with diabetes for the future.

The Network meets quarterly and is chaired by Dr Tabitha Randell, Consultant in Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes at Nottingham Children’s Hospital, which provides paediatric diabetes services at QMC, Nottingham City Hospital and Newark Hospital. Members of the Network include the Child Health Strategy Lead for East Midlands, commissioners from across the counties, parent representatives and the paediatric diabetes teams (consisting of consultants, specialist nurses, dietitians and any other team members such as psychologists) from each of the units at Boston (inc Grantham), Chesterfield, Derby, Leicester, Lincoln, Kettering, Kings Mill, Northampton, Nottingham and Milton Keynes. 

In order to accurately meet the needs of the populace, we are currently undertaking a Health Needs Assessment, taking into consideration the views and opinions of parents/carers, patients and clinical staff; the result of which will be published shortly.  The learning from this will result in clearer awareness of local and regional needs allowing the Network to prioritise and target specific areas of work to address any shortcomings and to provide the best possible service.

We are working towards further engagement with parents, carers and CYP and are organising a series of events to introduce the concept of joint working and to capture their views.

Key Objective

The aim of the Network is to support each other in providing high quality care for our service users by developing criteria, strategies and guidelines to adequately meet the needs of the children and young people in our region who are affected with diabetes.  We believe that by learning from each other, supporting and working together, we will deliver a more equitable service throughout the county allowing all children and young people, throughout the region access to excellent care and thereby improving positive, favourable and sustainable outcomes for all.

As a network we are keen to see developments around:

• Out of Hours care
• Service User Engagement
• Transition Services