Diabetes doesn't have to stop your child from living life to the full.

With careful management, you can help your child to manage  their condition

Learning to manage diabetes takes time, patience and effort – not to mention coping with difficult emotions after diagnosis. There are no short-cuts and it can take time to understand the condition; but we can help them stay healthy, active and happy.

Let us show you how...

Exploring thoughts and feelings about diabetes

Self-referral to the psychology team

Support and opportunities to meet others

  • ‘Tree of Life’ video 
  • DiaMEETes
  • Mindfulness Parent Wellbeing Group is an 8 week online group for parents of children who have a long term health condition and are under the care of UCLH. For more information or register your interest please email: uclh.capsychology@nhs.net
  • Getting Ready for Transition to secondary school (GReaT). The GReaT Group is for young people with Type 1 Diabetes, who are transitioning to secondary school, and their parents. All those eliglible will receive an invite in the post
  • Navigating the exam period. An online session for those in Years 10-13, with a consultant at UCLH, to share ideas about managing exams and assessments when a health condition gets in the way 

The children and young people’s psychology team at UCLH run several groups throughout the year. All groups are for children and young people under the care of a consultant at UCLH.

DiaMEETes Group
When: May
Where: UCLH
Age: 9-11
The DiaMEETes group has been created with young people who live with Type 1 Diabetes. Children will meet other children with Type 1 Diabetes, get creative during the group and think about their strengths and supports, and hear stories from young people living with Type 1 Diabetes who help us to run our groups.

GReaT Group: transitioning to secondary school workshop
When: January and July
Where: Virtual and at UCLH
Age: Year 6
The GReaT parent workshop is available to all parents with children with diabetes who will be starting secondary school in the September of that year. The session runs virtually in January for 2 hours and focuses on starting well at secondary school, with opportunities to hear from peer young people and parents who have made the transition already, and who will be sharing their experiences of and tips for transition. The GReaT summer workshop is available for parents and young people who will be starting secondary school in the September of that year. There is a young people’s group for half of the day and a parents’ group for the other half. The young people’s group offers opportunities to meet other young people and think together about transitioning in fun and creative ways.

Navigating the exam period
When: February
Where: Virtual
Age: Year 10-13
This is a workshop for young people living with a long term health condition. The workshop uses a strengths based narrative approach to enable young people to discuss the stresses surrounding exams and the additional challenges that having health problems add. Young people will consider the resources they have to cope with the journey through exams, share ideas with each other for managing difficulties and learn new ways for stress reduction during exams and revision.

Rainbow Group
When: Throughout the year
Where: Virtual and at UCLH
Age: 13 and over
The rainbow group is for young people under a consultant at UCLH who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community. We meet every 3 months virtually for 2 hours, and it’s a space for young people to connect and share experiences in a welcoming and supportive environment. Attendance of this group is not disclosed on records. We also run an annual Rainbow of Life workshop, which is in person at UCLH, usually in October half term. This is a longer day and involves a group activity which gives the young people a chance to think about the important parts of their life and identity.

Tree of Life
When: February, August
Where: UCLH
Age: 12 and over
The Tree of Life project offers young people with diabetes the opportunity to meet with others living with Type 1 Diabetes and do an activity focusing on key parts of their life and strengths. Click on this link to find out more.

All groups will be advertised on our website and on Digibete beforehand. For more information about any of these groups or to be added to an interest list, please contact charlotte.taylor46@nhs.net.

South East Coast (SEC) and London Paediatric Diabetes Network  

For parents and carers who would like to connect with other families in their area, the SEC and London Network have a parent group. You can join here

 

 

Understanding blood glucose levels 

 

 

You can also have a look at the resources on the Dexcom website: 

Pumps and devices

Essential advice and guidance from both experts and users

Medtronic

Freestyle Libre

Dexcom

Glooko

We have moved from Diasend to Glooko. You can read about the switch here

Food and Nutrition 

Food and lifestyle are important parts of managing diabetes. Being active and eating well can help with glucose management and increasing the time you spend with glucose levels in target range.

Having diabetes does not mean that you need a special diet but you do need to know lots about food, how your body works and how insulin works to match food and insulin, as well as how to eat well to grow and have a healthy body.

Eating isn't just about glucose levels; we want you to be able to enjoy food and manage diabetes. The diabetes dietitians are here to help you with everything about food and diabetes and activity management, from carbohydrate counting to eating out and managing food and drink on holiday and beyond. You will find information about eating well for all ages and managing diabetes on the information sheets in this section. There are also links to great resources for different ages to help everyone in the family eat well and be active.

We have a team of 4 dietitians and have weekly clinics, as well as group sessions for cooking and counting carbs. Find out all about the dietitians on the Meet the Team pages. You can contact us for an appointment or advice by email uclh.cddietitians@nhs.net.    

 

 

Here are some useful leaflets and links to help with counting carbohydrates

The dietitian team at Bristol children's hospital, along with a Somali link worker, have produced 3 carbohydrate counting videos:

Apps that young people and their families find useful for carbohydrate counting and bolus advice

If you need to come into the UCLH and stay on one of the wards (T11 or T12) here is some information you might find helpful.

 

Useful links

Coeliac UK

Websites for further information

Physical activity and exercise

No-sweat guidance on how to enjoy sport and exercise

Useful websites:

ExCarbs

Team Novo Nordisk

The Diabetes Football Community

We know that exercise can present challenges for managing blood glucose levels.

There are 2 clinics run specifically to help children and young people manage exercise and Type 1 Diabetes.  

Monthly exercise & diabetes management clinic

This clinic is held on the 4th Friday afternoon of the month and accepts referrals for advice about the management of sports and diabetes for patients who are not under the care of UCLH. The clinic is run by Francesca (specialist dietitian with sports nutrition and prescribing qualifications). Each appointment is an hour long and aims to provide advice specific to sports management to help manage diabetes and improve sports performance. The clinic includes an assessment of body composition, the creation of a sports nutrition eating plan and a review of the impact of specific sports on blood glucose levels. Members of the referring MDT are welcome to attend the clinic with families. These appointments can be held face-to face or virtually via MyCare.

Referrals to the clinic should be sent to:

Francesca Annan, Clinical Specialist Paediatric/Adolescent Diabetes Dietitian,
University College London Hospitals,
6th Floor Central,
250 Euston Road,
London NW1 2PG

Weekly exercise and diabetes management clinic
This is held on Friday mornings for children and young people who attend the UCLH children and young people’s diabetes service and run by is the paediatric diabetes dietitians. Each appointment is an hour long to allow time for a detailed discussion about exercise and sports management. In addition to providing sports specific advice, the appointments can be used to plan management for activity trips with schools and other organisations.

Education

All the homework you need to excel at school

Care Plans

Every young person with type 1 diabetes requires an individual health care plan (IHCP) for school.

As a team we have decided to use the nationally approved Individual Health Care Plans (school care plans) produced by Digibete. 

We will no longer be approving any of the old style school care plans.

When you are updating your school care plan, this is what happens and what you need to do:

  1. Ensure you/your child have downloaded and set up the Digibete app. Please make sure the name of your child or young person is correctly entered into the app even if you have signed up as a parent. You can find out how to sign up here. The clinic code is 6EUXO
  2. Email the team uclh.cdorange@nhs.net and ask for a care plan to be started. When you email, please give your child's full name and date of birth, the email address you wish us use for you, the name of your school, a point of contact and their email address. If we don't have all of this  information or the app isn't set up, the care plan cannot be generated
  3. Once the care plan has been started, it is then transferred to you (parent/carer). You will receive 2 separate communications from Digibete – an email containing your invite code AND a second email or SMS, containing your ‘check’ code. This second part of the process is part of the verification process.
  4. You will need to complete all sections. This process has been designed to be completed in a linear, step by step fashion. When you are initially writing the care plan, you cannot skip to other sections. However, you will be able to move to different sections, once all sections have been completed and you are editing the plan. You can do this part with the school if you wish (it will make the review process quicker).
  5. Once you have finished press ‘Save and submit’ – this saves the care plan, and will allow the UCLH team to review, edit if necessary, and put into review mode. If any changes have been made by the UCLH team, you will be sent the care plan to review and agree. You will be notified of this by email from Digibete.
  6. The care plan is then sent to the school to review. The school are unable to edit the care plan. It will be sent to the email address you provide to us (see No 2 above). Once reviewed, the school then transfer back to UCLH team. 
  7. Once the care plan is finalised, you and the school can download a PDF copy. It can also be viewed through the Digibete app. The Digibete care plan remains in the app and can be updated or annually reviewed as required by starting a new round of edits.

As each care plan requires the approval of you (parents/carers), the UCLH diabetes team and the school, please allow at least 2 weeks for the care plan to be generated. If the care plan results in queries from you, the UCLH team or the school, please be prepared for the process to take longer.

If you are updating the care plan in the school holidays, please be prepared to wait longer as the school will not be able to approve until term restarts.

 

Supporting Information

Here are the documents to support the care plan

Please download the relevant documents depending on what equipment and technology is used. 

Travel and days out

 Websites for further information

Some pumps need to be removed for certain theme park rides due to the magnetic harnesses used. We recommend contacting your pump company to find out if this applies to you.

We do not supply specific letters to request queue jumping at theme parks, but if you take your last clinic with you to confirm your diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, most theme parks will provide you with ‘fast-passes’ to enable you to avoid queuing.

Navigating Theme Parks Blog

Young adults

Also look at our information on Travelling with diabetes and University 

Advice and links

 

Below are some links to useful shopping sites for diabetes products. These have been suggested to us by our parents and families. If you have any useful links you would like to share here please drop us an email at cdlime@uclh.nhs.uk or cdorange@uclh.nhs.uk.

Digibete

Digibete is a video platform and social enterprise, designed to help children and their families with type 1 diabetes. It is a collection of short videos on all aspects of diabetes managements, created by young people, their families and their diabetes teams. Click the image on the left to download the full size.

www.digibete.org 

Psychosocial Aspects of Diabetes: Children, Adolescents and Their Families (by Deborah Christie)

Type 1 Diabetes in Children, Adolescents and Young Adults (by Ragnar Hanas)
Pumping Insulin: Everything You Need for Success on a Smart Insulin Pump (by John Walsh)
Lara Takes Charge( by Rocky Lang)

 

Diabetes blog, news and updates

What is diabetes?

Living with diabetes

Meet the children and young people's diabetes team

Diabetes research

Diabetes videos and guides

Diabetes support - get involved

Diabetes events