Jenny Lind diabetes team launches new podcasts

Doctors and specialist nurses at the Jenny Lind Children’s Hospital in Norwich have developed a new series of audio podcasts for children and their families who have Type 1 diabetes.

The second series of podcasts builds on the success of podcasts launched in 2009 for young people with type 1 diabetes. Those podcasts have been played more than 9,000 times since the launch.

The Norwich children’s diabetes team is believed to be the first and only unit in the country to provide children, families and teenagers with health information through podcasts. Hospitals in Bristol and Glasgow direct their young patients to the Norwich diabetes podcasts website

The first series of podcasts was aimed at teenagers aged 14+. Following feedback from teenagers and parents, two new podcasts have just been added to that series on the topics of leaving home and having an annual review of their health. .

The new series of podcasts is hosted at www.nnuh.nhs.uk/podcasts/diabetes

People can listen to the podcasts from the web page and download them to an MP3 player or iPod for free. The Jenny Lind Diabetes team's podcasts have been produced by TWG.

The new Diabetes Podcasts cover the following themes:

• What is Diabetes?
• Coping with Illnesses
• Managing Hypos
• Why do blood tests
• All About Insulin Adjustments
• Holidays
• Insulin Pumps
• Leaving Home (for young people 14+)
• Annual review (for young people 14+)

Dr Datta said: “Diabetes has a major impact on children’s life. For young people in particular social pressures and the feeling that potential complications are a long way off, undermine good self-care. Talking about common problems, like sport, drinking and sex and how to deal with them can be awkward in standard clinic settings, but podcasts can bridge that gap.

“We think that the information about how to cope with leaving home and managing your diabetes is particularly important. It's a big lifestyle change for people going out to college, work or university and there is very little information to support them through that”.

The number of children in Norfolk being diagnosed with type 1 diabetes has increased by a third in recent years. Last month a national audit of children with diabetes also revealed the Jenny Lind diabetes team is achieving among the best results in the country for children and young people with diabetes.

Levels of Type 1 Diabetes in children are higher in the UK than elsewhere in Europe and researchers predict the number of under-fives with Type 1 diabetes is set to double by 2020.

Type 1 diabetes means that someone's pancreas stops producing insulin and makes blood sugar levels difficult to control. As a result people with Type 1 diabetes need daily injections of insulin to manage their condition.

The Jenny Lind Diabetes team at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital currently looks after 350 children under the age of 18 from Norfolk and Suffolk with Type 1 diabetes.