Hospital rise for child diabetes

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The number of children in England needing emergency hospital care for complications of diabetes has risen, figures show.

Last year, 3,317 were admitted to hospital with the potentially coma-inducing complication diabetic ketoacidosis compared to 2,617 in 2002.

Patient group Diabetes UK claimed that cuts in NHS services were partly to blame for this trend.

The Department of Health said it was committed to improving services.

We haven't got enough people on the ground to deliver the service Professor Peter HindmarshInstitute of Child Health

Diabetic ketoacidosis can be the first obvious sign of unchecked diabetes in a child, with symptoms such as sluggishness and fatigue, weight loss, stomach pain and vomiting.

If not treated quickly, these symptoms can worsen and eventually lead to coma and death.

Once diagnosed, children with type I diabetes use insulin injections to manage their blood sugar levels - but if they are very poorly-controlled, ketoacidosis can arise again.

The steady rise in the number of cases since 2002 was revealed in a Parliamentary answer.

Douglas Smallwood, the chief executive of Diabetes UK, said that parents needed to be better educated in the tell-tale signs and more needs to be spent on specialist diabetes services aimed at children.

He said: "The number of children being rushed to A&E with such a life-threatening complication is shocking.

"In other research, specialist diabetes staff have reported that cuts in diabetes services results in increased emergency hospital admissions.

"With increased awareness and more investment, the number could be dramatically reduced."

The charity said while the figures were just based on hospital admission in England, the problem was likely to be UK-wide.

'Vital support'

But Professor Peter Hindmarsh, from the Institute of Child Health, who leads a committee asked by the government to look at the care of children with diabetes, said the reasons were more complex.

"There are an increasing number of people being diagnosed with diabetes - probably because of greater awareness - and people tend to stay in hospital at this point.

"However, the shortage of specialist care might have something to do with; we haven't got enough people on the ground to deliver the service."

A spokesman for the Department of Health acknowledged that it was vital that children and young people with diabetes had access to support from a specialist team.

"The government has recognised that the quality of diabetes care for children and young people can be variable and we set up a working group to establish what needed to be done to improve this."