Helping children with diabetes

14 Nov Archive Hannah and Jose with diabetes books

Previously the Chelsea Children’s Hospital Charity, we re-launched as The Children’s Surgery Foundation in 2019 to reflect the national scope of our work today. The story below is from our days as the Chelsea Children’s Hospital Charity.

It's World Diabetes Day!

The paediatric team at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital care for over 200 children and young people with diabetes, making it one of the largest centres for diabetes in London. Around 30 children are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes here every year.

At the team’s request, we’ve recently funded a Diasend system, worth £5,000.

“By allowing parents and clinicians to download detailed data from most glucose meters and insulin pumps, Diasend makes diabetes management easier and more precise,” explains Paediatric Diabetes Specialist Nurse, José Cavalcante. “It’s an incredibly useful piece of software,” adds Dr Saji Alexander, Consultant Paediatrician.

We’ve also funded a further 30 books, 'Type 1 Diabetes in Children, Adolescents and Young Adults’ at a cost of £750.

“We give the books out to newly diagnosed children as the main support literature,” says José. “It is so helpful in comforting both anxious parents and newly diagnosed young people as they begin their journey with diabetes.”