
Christina Hamilton
Diabetes Nurse, Education and Support Co-ordinator for Diabetes Ireland
Discover the award-winning self-management app and video platform that was rolled out in Ireland last year. It has now launched an emotional wellbeing section for children and teens living with type 1 diabetes.
Now, the DigiBete platform also plans to introduce a new ‘carb counting’ feature on the app. Founded in the UK and rolled out in Ireland by Diabetes Ireland, the app supports children and teens with type 1 diabetes and their families by giving them a place to organise their appointments, ongoing care and access to relevant educational resources. Families can access age-appropriate diabetes information such as quizzes, videos, food and exercise support.
Type 1 training rollout in schools
Diabetes Ireland has partnered with West Pharmaceutical Services, a global leader in injectable medicines, to support the rollout of DigiBete in Ireland. It continues to add new information sections to the platform and is now beginning to add more information relevant to an Irish audience. This includes a comprehensive ‘Schools Training’ platform to help teachers and special needs assistants learn about and manage students with type 1 diabetes during school hours.
Platform expands to young adults
Christina Hamilton, Education and Support Coordinator, Diabetes Ireland, says: “This year, access to the app will also be extended to young adults with diabetes. “We have just started reaching out to young adult diabetes clinic teams in Ireland offering them an opportunity to receive some training, which will enable them to onboard their 16 to 25-year-olds living with diabetes.”
This year, access to the app will also
be extended to young adults with diabetes.
App features for families and clinicians
Through the platform, families can develop a record of personalised information about their diabetes care, set reminders of their clinic appointments and receive invites to various family events, education workshops and more. DigiBete data shows that the education videos on the app have been viewed 7,673 times, and the quiz was completed by 863 users with an average score of 64%.
To date, 15 paediatric diabetes clinic teams have completed their training with 10 actively onboarding families. To see if your clinic is using the app, visit diabetes.ie
To access the app, contact your diabetes team for a code and registration instructions.