What is the issue for NSW?
In NSW, there are 4400 young people aged 0-18 years with type 1 diabetes. The majority of these young people don’t meet internationally recommended targets for diabetes management. The consequences of suboptimal diabetes management include blindness, kidney disease, limb amputations, heart disease, stroke and early mortality. While diabetes cannot be cured, optimal diabetes management has been clearly shown to significantly reduce the risk of these complications occurring. There is currently no agreed upon model of care for paediatric diabetes in NSW and in regional and rural areas many children do not have access to specialist services. John Hunter Children’s Hospital (JHCH) have developed an award-winning management program for paediatric diabetes called Success With Individualised Insulin Management (SWIIM) and are consistently ranked among the top 3 centres in the world for diabetes outcomes.
What does the research aim to do and how?
The aim of the research is to determine if diabetes outcomes can be improved by implementing the SWIIM program in three sites providing paediatric diabetes services in NSW. The program will be rolled out to these sites with education and clinical support provided by JHCH clinicians over an 18-month study period. Clinical measures, patient and clinician acceptability and economic impact will be assessed.