Diabetes service (children)

The Exeter Children and Young People’s Diabetes Service provides care for children aged up to 19 years old with all types of diabetes.

The most common type of diabetes in children is type 1 diabetes. This is a lifelong condition where the body's immune system attacks and destroys the cells that produce insulin. This causes blood glucose (sugar) levels to become too high. The treatment for type 1 diabetes is regular glucose monitoring, healthy diet and insulin therapy in the form of injections or a continuous insulin infusion (CSII) via a pump.

Other types of diabetes we see include:

  • Type 2 diabetes – where the body does not produce enough insulin, or the body's cells do not react to insulin produced. A healthy lifestyle is vital in these cases with increased exercise and a healthy diet. A number of other medical treatments maybe required such as oral or injected medications.
  • Cystic Fibrosis related diabetes – Cystic Fibrosis is an inherited condition that causes a build-up of thick mucus in the lungs and other parts of the body. Glucose levels may rise because of this and glucose monitoring and/or insulin therapy may be required.
  • Monogenic diabetes – there are a number of genetic forms of diabetes such as maturity onset diabetes of the young, neonatal diabetes and other rare forms. A number of other medical treatments maybe required such as oral or injected medications.

More about us

As well as insulin treatment, we support and educate all our patients and their families to help them manage their long-term condition.

Our team provides wraparound care, with telephone access to a paediatric specialist 24-hours a day. Advice and education to families is provided in the hospital at diagnosis, at home and via telephone, text, email and video consultations. The young person with diabetes is always at the centre of our team.

Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nursing team

The Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nursing team teach the practicalities of managing diabetes day-to-day. Each child and family is different and the team use a range of technology to support our young patient's individual diabetes management. We follow national and local guidelines and criteria when starting treatment options.

The whole team take part in reviewing treatment plans regularly with the family. Often, changes are needed as young people grow and develop. Families are encouraged to use technology to support their diabetes management. Information can then be downloaded into shared computer systems for review and analysis.

Paediatric Dietitian

The paediatric dietitian on the team educates families with healthy foods choices, growth and development, carbohydrate counting and effects of other nutrients on glucose levels. Group sessions are offered yearly to each child with Cook and Eat sessions being very popular.

Diabetes Psychologist

Our diabetes psychologist is a vital member of our team, helping families with thoughts and feelings about living with a long term condition, as well as offering support for managing difficult procedures and treatments. Our psychologist also supports the team with education and training such as our popular 'Tree of Life' session for children in Year 6 who are preparing to go to to secondary school.

Wider support

We provide training, education, individual healthcare plans and telephone support to the wider team supporting the child and family. This can include extended family, all nursery, school or college settings, youth workers, voluntary and social care sector. The dietitian will support with carbohydrate counting menus for young people in these establishments.

Transition to adult care

We also help young people with diabetes as they move on through to adult care. This transition process starts when they are 12 years old.  We support young people with education though to independence with their diabetes care. We use the Ready, Steady Go (Southampton) model to frame our discussions with families. Young people do well when parents and carers remain involved in their care throughout their transition to adulthood. Find out more here.

Continual improvement

The team actively participate in national diabetes audits of care, quality assurance initiatives, patient experience surveys, research and attend regular education meetings with the local paediatric diabetes network and at a national level. We all participate in education of other non-specialist health care professionals who may encounter young people with type 1 diabetes in their care. The team members are actively involved in national steering committees including Association of British Children’s Diabetes Clinicians (ACDC), National Paediatric Diabetes Network and the British Dietetic Association Diabetes Specialist Group (Paediatric Sub-Group).

Contact us

Eastern Services

If you want to get in touch with the department, please contact:

Urgent enquiries

If your child is acutely unwell, please call NHS 111 and ask for advice. If an emergency, call 999.

We have made a recent change to contacting the diabetes team in an urgent situation. If you call 01392 411611, 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday, your call will be directed to the PDSN team answerphone. If you call between 5pm to 9pm, your call will be directed to the Paediatric Registrar.

At the weekends, your call will be directed to the PDSN or Doctor on call.

Non-urgent enquiries 

The PDSN team is available on 01392 403727, 9am to 5pm, on working days (answerphone if not immediately available).

Please send any non-urgent emails to rde-tr.PaediatricDiabetes@nhs.net. We aim to answer these within 32 hours.

For non-urgent direct contact with our dietitian, please contact either 07827 239019 or maria.leveridge@nhs.net.

 

Northern Services

North Devon District Hospital 

Main switchboard on 01271 322577

Where to find us

Depending on your appointment, you may be seen at one of our main hospital sites, at a community hospital, or in a specific community setting. Some specialties and treatment options are based solely at the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital (Wonford), such as radiotherapy and some types of surgery.

 

Eastern services

RD&E Wonford, Barrack Rd, Exeter EX2 5DW.

The Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nurse Office can be found in Paediatric Outpatients, room J158 (Area J, Level 1).

We advise arranging with a member of the team before dropping in, as there is not always someone present.

Paediatric diabetes clinic

Clinics occur on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons most weeks, at Wonford Hospital. We see young people up to the age of 16 years old in this venue.

Young persons’ diabetes clinic

Clinics occur on the second Thursday of the month in the afternoon.

Clinics take place at the Macleod Diabetes & Endocrine Centre. You will find the Macleod Centre at the Wonford Hospital site in a separate building at the corner of Barrack Road and Haldon View Terrace.

Northern services

North Devon District Hospital, Raleigh Park, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 4JB.

  • Children's Outpatient Department: Level 2
  • Caroline Thorpe Ward: Ladywell Unit, Level 2
  • Special Care Unit, Caroline Thorpe Ward, LadywellUnit, Level 2

Meet the team

Lead Consultant

  • Dr Chris Moudiotis: Clinical Director for Paediatrics / Consultant Paediatrician in Diabetes & Endocrinology / Clinical Lead for Exeter Children and Young People Diabetes Service. 

Consultant

  • Dr David McGregor: Consultant Paediatrician / College Tutor

Doctor

  • Dr Sue Hellewell: Speciality Doctor Paediatrics and Paediatric Diabetes

Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nurses (PDSN)

  • Heather Fisher (Lead PDSN)
  • Ruth Dalton
  • Emm Greenslade
  • Jake Allison

Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Dietitian

  • Maria Leveridge

Paediatric Psychologist

  • Dr Kathy Cox

Services and treatment

Our aim is for all young people in our care to have glucose levels within optimal range to keep them in good health for their future lives. This requires a significant amount of time and effort for all our young people and their carers.

More than 99 per pent of our young people with type 1 diabetes use multiple daily injections of insulin (MDI) or continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion (CSII; insulin pump).

Most of our young children and their carers’ do a carbohydrate count as part of their treatment plan. 

A number of young people use continuous glucose monitoring systems (CGMS), continuously using a Sensor-Augmented Pump Therapy (SAPT) using insulin pumps. Several others use CGMS intermittently. Flash glucose monitoring is also offered if certain criteria are met.

Supporting you

Information for schools

The Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nursing team provide advice and training for schools, nurseries and colleges. See here.

Training programme for school staff. See here.

ISPAD Position Statement on Type 1 Diabetes in Schools. See here.

 

Information for parents

There are two parent-led support groups in our area:

South West Families with Diabetes Group

This is a national parent led support group for families with diabetes linked to the National Children and Young People (CYP) Diabetes Network. This Patient/Parent/Carer reference group was set up to allow direct influence from those using the paediatric centres to feed into the national agenda.

www.facebook.com/groups/351695801609372

DigiBete website and app

DigiBete website is a great resource of information on diabetes care and treatment for young people and carers. It is written in collaboration with Leeds Paediatric Diabetes Team and includes a number of practical videos for diabetes treatment www.digibete.org.

DigiBete: DigiBete has launched an app which is administered through the team. Please email for your clinic code if you haven’t received it. You can find a guide on how to register and how best to use the App here: www.digibete.org/digibete-app. Please sign up with one family email address and a password that can be share with carers. Up to six devices can the access the same App.

deapp diabetes app

If you have a child newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes we will give you a personal access code and password for the deapp diabetes app. Please use this code during your initial training in diabetes management. Extended family members are welcome to register themselves to use the app and we ask them to use their own email address and set their own password. To do this follow the instructions via this link deapp.nhs.uk.

More support

If you are feeling down, stressed or anxious about anything, there are a number of websites and apps that can provide information, advice, and support.

Devon SEND Local Offer

What is the SEND Local Offer?

Devon’s SEND Local Offer is the education, health and social care services and support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) from birth to 25.

More information

Information for healthcare professionals

All young people with suspected type 1 diabetes should be referred to the hospital emergency department for same day admission. Please see northeast.devonformularyguidance.nhs.uk/referral-guidance/northern-locality/paediatrics/diabetes

If BG more than 11mmol/l or glycosuria (+/- ketonuria):

  • Refer immediately (same day) to the acute paediatrics on-call team
  • Inform child and family of the suspected diagnosis of diabetes

British Society for Paediatric Endocrinology and Diabetes (BSPED)
UK guidance for all aspects of diabetes care for children and young people
www.bsped.org.uk

Association of British Children’s Diabetes Clinicians (ACDC)
UK guidance for all aspects of diabetes care for children and young people
www.a-c-d-c.org/endorsed-guidelines

International Society Pediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD)
Guidance for all aspects of diabetes care for children and young people
www.ispad.org

National Institute Clinical Excellence (NICE) Guidance for children and young people with type 1 and 1 diabetes
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng18

Guidance on other types of diabetes (monogenic and neonatal diabetes)
www.diabetesgenes.org

Patient information leaflets

We produce a wide range of leaflets which provide information about our services and about the treatment you might receive in our clinics or during your stay in hospital. 

We also produce these in different formats including large print, please contact the department you are visiting for more information.

Find out more

Useful videos

We have a wide range of videos which provide information about our services and about the treatment you might receive in our clinics or during your stay in hospital. 

Find out more

Last updated: November 15, 2022

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