Endocrine Abstracts

Children &Young people (CYP) with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) have increased rates of depression, anxiety, psychological distress and eating disorders than their healthy peers. Psychological factors and the patient’s health beliefs are important determinants of self-care behaviour. Randomised control trials have confirmed that Psychological interventions can significantly lead to improvement in measures of psychological well-being. Routine psychological support is advocated as a normal part of a paediatric diabetes service.

Objective: To assess the current level of provision of psychology services for CYP with diabetes mellitus and how integrated the Psychologists are with the rest of paediatric diabetes multidisciplinary team (MDT) in United Kingdom.

Method: Clinicians working in 152 NHS trusts and health boards in the United Kingdom were invited via email to complete an online survey (April 2018–June 2018).

Results: Responses were received from 72.3% (110/152) NHS trusts and Health boards looking after approximately 20,684 CYP with DM. 81.5% have a psychologist as part of the MDT. The median number of whole time equivalent psychologist (WTE) was 0.5. The ratio of WTE Psychologist to number of CYP cared for in the service varied from 1:75 to 1:3,600 (Median 1:460). 49.5% of Psychologists routinely attend all DM clinics. 52.1% see all newly diagnosed patients at presentation. 40.3% accept self-referrals directly from CYP or carers. 87.7% see CYP outside of DM clinics in separate psychology sessions. 58% contribute to training other members of the MDT while 47% contribute to CYP group structured education sessions. 84.1% of services undertake annual assessment of psychological wellbeing using various tools with ‘Well being in Diabetes Questionnaire’ being the most commonly used (35.9%). Units receiving BPT were significantly more likely to have a Psychologist as part of MDT (85.7% Vs 50%) P<0.05.

Conclusion: Compared to the 2010 National survey, there has been a significant increase in the provision of Psychological services for CYP (21% VS 81.5%) P<0.05. This appears to be related to increased funding for diabetes services following introduction of best practise tariff.