About
Diabetes mellitus (Type 1 diabetes) is a condition where the amount of glucose in your blood is too high because the body cannot use it properly. It affects around two per 1,000 children in England and Wales. In 2021-22 there were just under 3,900 new cases. The vast majority of children and young people with diabetes (around 95%) have Type 1 diabetes. Only a small number have Type 2 diabetes or other rare forms of diabetes.
The National Paediatric Diabetes Audit (NPDA) is commissioned by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) and funded by NHS England and the Welsh Government. The audit is performed annually in England and Wales.
The clinic that you or your child attends is asked to submit information about the diabetes care. The sole aim is to provide information that leads to improved quality of care for children and young people affected by diabetes. With this information, the NPDA produces a report each year.
Parents and carers reports
Our parents and carers reports, or booklets, give a summary of the NPDA findings. They are in English and Welsh languages and they cover the audit years, 2013-14 to 2021-22. You can download them at the bottom of this page.
This is the most recent report (in English):
More from the NPDA
- Our key conclusions from the 2021-22 audit year
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In June 2023, we published the NPDA report on health check completion and outcomes. This was based on data collected in the 2021-22 audit year.
We found:
- After stable numbers of new diagnoses up until 2020, there was a continued increase in the number of children and young people diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes between 2020-21 and 2021-22 with, 3883 new diagnoses in the audit year.
- Following disruption to routine care caused by the COVD-19 pandemic, when less health checks were provided to children and young people, health check rates broadly recovered to pre-pandemic levels in 2020/2022 are once again able to see patients and this is reflected in completion of key health checks.
- The trend for year on year improvements in national average HbA1c results continued in 2021/22, with the national median falling to 60.5 mmol/mol.
- Following new NICE guidance, there was a further increase in use of real time continuous glucose monitors (rtCGM) from 27.9% in 2020/21 to 30.0% in 2021/22, with increases observed across all deprivation quintiles and ethnic groups.
- Children and young people living in more deprived areas and those of non-White ethnicity may need more support to take up use of diabetes-related technologies, as lower use of these was found across these groups.
- There was continued variation in outcomes and health check completion rates between paediatric diabetes services.
Parents and carers of children and young people with diabetes should:
- Talk to their diabetes clinics about receiving and discussing the results of health checks, suitable for their age
- Work with their diabetes team to achieve the best HbA1c level possible for their child by aiming for blood glucose levels within targets set by their clinic
Ongoing support for children and young people with diabetes is important. This should include psychological assessment and ongoing support, structured educational packages, and blood glucose target setting to reduce the risk of long term complications.
The National Children and Young People’s Diabetes Network has shown commitment to working together to improve the care and outcomes of children and young people, using the national network structures and the National Children and Young People’s Diabetes Quality Programme to support lasting and meaningful improvement.
- Watch our short video from the 2020-21 audit year and the 2021 PREM survey
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The PREM is Parent and Patient Reported Experience Measures (PREM). We run surveys for children and young people with diabetes and their parents and carers, and these are about the care provided by the paediatric diabetes services they attend.
In 2022 we partnered with Digibete to produce this video summarising the outcomes of our annual core audit report and the 2021 PREM survey.
Our current PREM survey, which is on the first year of care, runs until 26 January 2024.