A TEAM of medics from Nottingham's biggest hospital has completed a landmark study into treating children with diabetes.
The study, which began in 2009, found there were huge differences in how paediatric diabetes services were staffed, delivered and supported throughout the country.
And England was lagging behind other European countries, which had better care and were seeing improvements in long-term outcomes for youngsters, including fewer hospital admissions and fewer young adults experiencing complications of diabetes, such as blindness and kidney failure.
The research has led to a new model of best practice for doctors and nurses in spotting the signs of diabetes in children and ensuring everyone has access to the same level of specialist care.
It was led by Queen's Medical Centre consultant Dr Tabitha Randell and was introduced into hospitals nationwide this year.
It is hoped that it will lead to better outcomes for youngsters like Oliver Dobney.
The four-year-old, of Norman Drive, Eastwood, was misdiagnosed twice before finding out he had type 1 diabetes.
He suffered from chickenpox shortly after being born and doctors now believe that this illness may have triggered his diabetes.
His mother Anita, 41, said: "He was going to the toilet a lot and drinking constantly, but the first time we took him to the doctors we were told he had an ear infection, and the second time we went the doctor said he was suffering from pneumonia."
Oliver, who attends The Priory Catholic Voluntary Academy School in Eastwood, was eventually diagnosed at 20 months old, by taking a prick of blood from his finger and a urine sample – and it revealed he was just one hour away from falling into a coma.
Mrs Dobney said: "It was a close call in the end – he was close to falling into a coma.
"I hope that this new research will help with diagnosing young children, which can be very difficult because often they cannot communicate that well."
Oliver, who has two older brothers and a two-year-old sister, was initially injected by his mum four times a day for the first six months before he qualified for funding to be given an insulin pump.
The pump, which costs more than £1,000, continually infuses insulin into the layer of tissue just beneath the skin.
Oliver's type 1 diabetes is genetic, and not linked to poor diet or lack of exercise as is the case with type 2 diabetes sufferers.
There are about 29,000 children and young people with diabetes in the UK. About 26,500 of them have type 1 diabetes and about 500 have type 2.
There are a further 2,000 children and young people in the UK with diabetes whose diagnosis is not known and experts say that overall the numbers are rising.
The reason the research was commissioned was because rates of child diabetes were higher in the UK when compared to the rest of Europe and health experts wanted to try to reverse this trend.
Mrs Dobney, who is married to Nigel Dobney, 38, said: "At the end of the day we have been very pleased with the treatment we have received for Oliver's diabetes in what was, looking back, quite a scary time for us as parents.
"We have become mini experts in diabetes and I think the new research should really help doctors at the initial stage of diagnosis in children."
From 1997 to 2003 there was a 74 per cent rise in new cases of diabetes in children and adults.
And by 2005, more than four per cent of the population was classed as having diabetes – nearly double the rate of ten years earlier.
The bulk of cases are type 2 diabetes – which is linked to being overweight or obese.
The findings suggest that rates of diabetes are increasing at a faster rate in the UK than they are in the US, where prevalence of the disease is already one of the highest in the world.
