Children are Able to Better Manage their Diabetes at University College Hospital in London

We’ve learned an awful lot by watching and thinking about how business methodology can be applied in the management of patients. Professor Peter Hindmarsh, Paediatric Endocrinology, University College Hospital London

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The Situation

Children and young people with Type 1 diabetes make four injections of insulin each day. To ensure a normal healthy life, it is vital that they understand what dosage to take to regulate their blood glucose levels. However, in 85% of cases, this is not accurately controlled. In order to improve their lives and meet the key objectives of the U.K. Government’s “Every Child Matters” initiative, the Department for Paediatric Endocrinology at University College Hospital (UCH) in London wanted to give children better access to information about their condition. Greater control of the disorder will also help to avoid the need for expensive renal dialysis and transplants. UCH asked Capgemini Consulting to help make it easier for both patients and doctors to access critical personal data.

The Solution

UCH decided to bring together all the key people and organisations involved in the diabetic care of young people. Using Capgemini Consulting’s collaborative Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE), children, parents, doctors, social workers and teachers met with Capgemini Consulting healthcare experts and representatives from technology companies to agree on a common vision and a way forward. Capgemini Consulting then worked with a California-based company to build a secure system that supports remote monitoring. This system enables patients to access medical information and have it analysed in real time.

The Result

A trial of the new system involved around 60 people. Feedback from this showed that children felt empowered to control and manage their diabetes and thus reduce the risk of complications. The solution also provided healthcare practitioners at the UCH with accurate and up-to-date information for analysis. Professor Hindmarsh of Paediatric Endocrinology at UCH commented: “We now use this information to make decisions jointly with affected families. We can go back and check what our intervention has done over a period of a few days or a week. Previously, it would have taken three months for a traditional clinic appointment. If all we did in this project was to stop one person having renal dialysis and transplantation then we would be saving somewhere in the region of �250,000 a year for that individual alone.”