Ealing Hospital has partnered with the charity Supporting Children with Diabetes to provide financially challenged families with free mobile phones to help manage their children’s condition.

A phone app connects via Bluetooth to a small patch which is applied to the patient where a small cannula inserts just under the skin. This is called Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM).

It automatically monitors blood sugar levels telling the child if their glucose level is rising or falling, while another app allows parents to monitor their children’s use of the device.

The phone also allows access to other apps which help work out carbohydrates in foods and snacks, which is another important part of managing Type 1 diabetes.

Gillian Adams, a Paediatric diabetes nurse specialist, said: “We’ve seen huge beneficial changes in how people can both monitor blood sugar levels and self-administer insulin in recent years."

She said that the app makes this quick and convenient.

“We have more than 100 children on our books ranging from five months to 19 years-old but we do have families among them who can’t afford a phone allowing them to access this technology," she added.

The diabetes team can set personal information for Insulin doses and the app works out how much is needed for injecting via an Insulin pump.

Insulin pumps now link to the patch – automatically delivering insulin via a small cannula which is changed every three days – as well as adjusting insulin depending on the glucose level that it is receiving.

CGM and Insulin pumps are now the gold standard for supporting children with Type One diabetes.

Children with Type One diabetes have to inject around four or five times a day and blood glucose monitor by finger pricking at least six times a day to maintain their blood glucose levels.