October 2012 For immediate release

Diabetes research to be presented at European conference

Leeds Metropolitan research which highlights discrepancies between type 1 diabetes services in Yorkshire and the Humber is to be presented to the International Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) in Istanbul. The three-year project, Join Us On Our Journey led by Dr Nicky Kime, looked at children and young people with type 1 diabetes treated by one of nine healthcare trusts in the region. Dr Kime is a Senior Research Fellow at Leeds Metropolitan working with the Universitys award-winning Getting Sorted Enterprise Unit which specialises in research with children with type 1. She said inconsistencies in services were uncovered throughout the trusts and that all nine sites in Yorkshire and the Humber had a different way of working and managing patients.

Dr Kime, who has this week travelled to Istanbul with Getting Sorted Director Liz Webster to present her findings at ISPADs annual conference, commented: To be able to share and present our research with such a key international audience in Istanbul is an opportunity not to be missed for Getting Sorted. The UK has the worst rate of type 1 diabetes in Europe and the communication between the young people, parents, paediatric and adult diabetes teams is regarded as essential to improving care.

In addition Dr Sherry Waldron, National lead for Education at NHS Diabetes has set up meetings during the conference held from October 10-13, for EU partners from Germany, Poland, Greece, Hungary and the Czech Republic to find out more about Getting Sorted and the work the team does at Leeds Met. Liz Webster, said: The aim of our unit is to develop, influence and enhance service redesign and service improvement for diabetes in the UK. Other European countries have far superior healthcare services in place for children and young people with type 1, so to be invited to ISPADs annual conference and be given the opportunity to network and meet with our EU partners who have expressed an interest in Getting Sorted, our work and goals is very exciting for us.

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For further details please contact Julia Williams in the Communications team at Leeds Met on 0113 8125978 or email j.t.williams@leedsmet.ac.uk

Notes for editors: Leeds Metropolitan University has over 25,000 students and around 3,000 staff. The Vice Chancellor of Leeds Metropolitan University is Professor Susan Price and the Chair of the Board is Lord Woolmer of Leeds. Leeds Metropolitans four faculties are: Arts, Environment and Technology, Business & Law, Health and Social Sciences, and Carnegie. Leeds Metropolitans heritage can be traced back to the founding of the Mechanics Institute in Leeds in 1824.