Endocrine Abstracts

Aim: To evaluate the paediatric specialist diabetes nurse (PDSN) delivered 24 h emergency telephone contact service for families with children and young people with type 1 diabetes within Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.

Methods: A prospective audit of telephone calls received by the 2 PDSNs over a 15-month period between 1 July 2005 and 30 September 2006 for out of hours advice. All the phone calls were logged into a database and details of type of inquiry, time and duration of phone call, advice given and outcome were recorded. A questionnaire about the use of this service was sent out to parents which included a satisfaction rating about their experience of this service.

Results: During the study period total number of children and young people with type 1 diabetes within our service was 220. Of 357 telephone calls were logged. 241 calls (68%) were made between 1700 and 2100 h. 250 calls (70%) lasted ten minutes or less in duration. The topics of discussion were intercurrent illness (32%), hyperglycaemia (19%), hypoglycaemia (13%), Insulin dose adjustment (13%) and miscellaneous (23%). There were 20 admissions to the hospital following a telephone contact during the audit period (6% of the total phone calls). Of 95 questionnaires out of the 110 posted out were returned (86%). 75% of the families and young people who filled the questionnaire had used the emergency telephone contact. All the parents and young people contacting the PDSNs were either satisfied or very satisfied with the advice given.

Conclusion: A well established PDSN delivered emergency telephone service can improve patient/parent satisfaction and reduce the number of hospital contacts for families with children and young people with type 1 diabetes.