Co-designing a community delivered young people’s T2DM service
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Co-producing a community delivered children and young people’s Type 2 Diabetes Service
IRAS ID
353640
Contact name
Nathan Dawkins
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
BTHFT 3054, BIHR Reference Number
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 9 months, 31 days
Research summary
Prevalence of type 2 diabetes in young people (under the age of 18 years old) is increasing in England and Wales with new cases making up around 25% of the total caseload. Projections suggest that figures are tracking in line with those from the USA where they are ahead of the UK in the disease timeline. Developing type 2 diabetes before the age of 30 years old has significant consequences for health outcomes and reduces life expectancy by approximately 14 years. In England and Wales there is a higher prevalence for young people who: are female, South Asian, have elevated adiposity, and who live in highly deprived areas. Thus, indicating the early onset of this condition is at least partly mediated by inequality.
Working closely with the clinical team at Bradford Teaching Hospitals Foundation Trust (BTHFT), has provided some insight from a clinical lens of the service provision currently in place and some of the challenges the service faces. These challenges include poor service satisfaction (based on a lack of attendance), declining health outcomes and a lack of peer support, which ultimately equates to a service which is not working optimally. External to the service, insights suggest that challenges exist around the diagnosis pathway and the unseen caseload. Diagnosis and point of entry into the service often results from accidental presentation. This is suspected due to lack of awareness of symptoms, dissociation of type 2 diabetes as a condition affecting young people and stigma within the community. Associated with this is the notion that potential patients are not accessing the service, which is currently running at capacity.
Further insight is needed into the lived experiences of these young people and their families and gaps in the current service provision to better understand some of the challenges identified from consultation with the clinical team. In order to explore this, the current study will implement qualitative exploration through semi-structured interviews with patients, their families and healthcare professionals working as part of the Children’s Diabetes Team at BTHFT (Work Package 1). This insight will then form the starting point for a co-design process (Work Package 2) aiming to develop a new service model. The work in this study will support the development of the service to better suit the needs of its patients and hopefully reduce health provision inequalities.REC name
London - Bloomsbury Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
25/LO/0532
Date of REC Opinion
8 Aug 2025
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion