Following the success of DPEP Phase 1 (Adults), which tested survey methodologies to establish the most successful method of capturing patient experience in a primary care setting, the second phase (Children and Young Adults) has now begun.

Aims and Objectives

• To measure patient experience of children and young people aged 15 and under, wherever care is provided.
• To capture, analyse and act upon methods of enabling diabetes patient experience in children and young people, and assess suitable methodology for routine use (ie how the logistics would work in the real world).
• To improve the quality of information to commissioners; reflecting the evidence that care planning, education and other similar interventions can have at least as powerful an effect on management of long term conditions as pharmaceutical interventions.

In summary the project will:

• develop patient experience questions for children and young people, which measure both routine and inpatient care and support the Diabetes National Service Framework (NSF)
• test out mechanisms and technologies for collecting the questions utilising a focus group to suggest the preferred technologies
• deliver a set of required data items

Project Research

Ci Research was successfully appointed in spring 2010 to continue the key work achieved in the first phase of DPEP.

Piloting has started in 2 areas, in Yorkshire and Humber and in London and the South East in order to compare the use of paper questionnaires to electronic questionnaires with children and young people.  Recruitment to the study has commenced and results will be available later in the year.

A qualitative study is also being carried out where families will record in-depth details of their experiences.