Mayor's charity buys monitoring system for young diabetics
21 March 2014
Staff at the Queen Mary's Hospital Diabetic Paediatric Unit are delighted that they now have a Continuous Glucose Monitoring System (CGMS) to help manage the care of their young patients - thanks to a fantastic response to the Mayor of Bexley's fundraising appeal.
CGMS is a small and discreet device which measures glucose levels all day, every day - revealing patterns that could be missed with fingerstick testing alone. The system cost £1,800 and will be used for many children over the years, as each child uses an individual sensor attached to the main system.
A 13 year old boy from Sidcup has already become the first to benefit from the new equipment. The youngster was having very erratic blood glucose readings and the Paediatric Diabetes team felt that the readings taken by CGMS would provide them with a clearer picture to enable them to offer the right advice about insulin dose adjustments. They were very pleased with the results.
The teenager was also due to start on an insulin pump when he was chosen for the CGMS. Again, information from the monitoring, which takes place 24 hours per day over a five day period, was very valuable when setting this up.
Mayor of Bexley, Cllr Sharon Massey said: "I am delighted that my fundraising for Queen Mary's Diabetic Paediatric Unit has been able to buy this equipment.
"Diabetes is an issue very close to my heart. I chose the Diabetic Paediatric Unit as one of my charities because I have a daughter who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 2007 and I know what a fantastic job they do. The monitoring equipment will be a significant help to staff who carry out such an important role in the care of children and young people with diabetes.
"I would like to say a very big thank you to all those who have responded so generously to my charity appeal on behalf of the Unit and made this purchase possible."
A spokesman for the Diabetic Paediatric Unit said: "We are very excited to offer continuous glucose monitoring to the children and young people in Bexley with type 1 diabetes. The system allows the team to collect extensive blood glucose information which is then used to improve the management of diabetes for the children and young people under our care.
"We are very grateful to the Mayor of Bexley for choosing our Unit as one of her charities and would like to say a big thank you everyone who has given so generously and made it possible for us to purchase this piece of equipment."
The Mayor presented the monitoring device to the Diabetic Paediatric Unit on 5 February.
