Information for Diabetes Teams
This guidance will explain more about the National Diabetes Closed Loop System (CLS) Onboarding Programme and how we will support Boards in deploying CLS technology for eligible individuals.
Why is this team in place?
Funding has been approved through the Scottish Government to develop a national approach to increasing access to Diabetes CLS across NHS Scotland for people living with type 1 diabetes. The team will initially be in place for 9 months and the service opened to referrals on Monday 2 October 2023. After the onboarding programme is complete individuals will continue their ongoing care and support from their local diabetes team.
Who are we?
The National Diabetes Closed Loop System (CLS) Onboarding Team will be comprised of:
- Senior National Diabetes CLS Educators,
- Assistant Practitioners,
- Administrators and
- Senior Peer Support Workers (those living with or parent/carers of someone with type 1 diabetes on a CLS).
We will share more detailed information about each member of the team in due course. Dietetic input will also be sought, as well as support from each of the insulin pump and CGM suppliers who will be involved in the programme.
What is our aim?
Our aim is to help people with type 1 diabetes gain access to diabetes technologies while supporting them to feel confident in using the device.
Our role will be to facilitate the onboarding of the CLS through education and administration support. We aim to complement the care and support provided by local clinical teams without taking over clinical responsibility for patients at any time.
What devices will be used?
We are working with all the following companies:
- Advance Therapeutics
- Air Liquide
- Dexcom
- Insulet
- Medtronic
- Medtrum
- Ypsomed
We understand that not all of these devices will be used by your local team, so please refer individuals for onboarding to devices that are currently used in your teams. The supply of devices will come from those already nationally procured (which have been deployed to Boards) and from those that are locally procured by the Board.
How will we onboard participants?
The onboarding programme will be facilitated remotely via NHS Near Me or Microsoft Teams. The process will involve a mixture of online group education sessions and one to one calls that take place over a 4-6 week period.
People who participate in the programme must have access to a computer, tablet or iPad with a working webcam, located in a non-public area, to safeguard their confidentiality.
Smart phones are not suitable due to their smaller screens, which may reduce the participant's ability to view essential information shared on screen during the group sessions.
Clinical care remains the responsibility of the local Board at all times.
We are happy to take referrals from all individuals who meet the agreed criteria.
There will be 3 pathways participants can be enrolled into.
Who can be referred?
We are keen to support implementation of the Scottish Health Technologies Group (SHTG) guidance on Closed Loop Systems initially published in January 2022. This guidance highlighted that the following groups are most likely to benefit from CLS:
- Suboptimal glycaemic control under their current diabetes care plan.
- High risk of severe hypoglycaemia and/or impaired awareness of hypoglycaemia.
- Have experienced diabetes-related distress (measured using a validated tool).
Other factors you should consider in terms of identifying individuals who are most likely to be suitable or may not be suitable are listed below.
- Participants who are most likely to be suitable:
-
- Benefit from peer support and group sessions
- Keen for remote sessions to minimise travel / need to work around other commitments
- Benefit from being on closed loop systems quicker
- Engaged and motivated to take part in and provide feedback on a national initiative
- Have access to devices such as laptops, PC, camera
- Participants who may not be suitable:
-
- Have complex health and/or social problems which may impede their ability to be part of group and online sessions.
- Have minimal/variable accessibility to devices or camera for remote sessions.
- Unable to take part in online/remote learning sessions.
- Variable lifestyles / work commitments that would mean they could not attend all sessions.
- Wish to attend face-to-face onboarding sessions.
How to refer participants?
If you think an individual is suitable for the programme, they can be referred into the Team by completing the referral form sent out to Boards on 28 September 2023.
We understand that some Health Boards may not endorse submitting referrals to this programme using MS Forms therefore we are happy to accept referrals by secure email only from these Health Boards.
However, if you do not have access to the referral form or need further advice on whether or not to refer, please email nationaldiabetesclsteam@gjnh.scot.nhs.uk.
Each Health Board is required to obtain individual Information Governance sign-off. Before submitting referrals, please contact your Board Information Governance Lead to ensure that the necessary Information Governance approval is in place.
Patient information
We have prepared a patient information leaflet that you can download or print for anyone you are wanting to refer. Click here to access information for participants.
Protecting personal data
If you refer an individual to the National Diabetes Closed Loop System Onboarding Programme for device training, this will mean that personal information will be shared with the team at NHS Golden Jubilee.
NHS Golden Jubilee is a national Board for NHS Scotland and all personal information will be processed in a safe manner, in line with the data protection requirements across NHS Scotland.
You can find out more about how NHS Golden Jubilee will process your information by viewing the National Diabetes Closed Loop System Onboarding Programme Data Protection Notice.
Working together
We acknowledge that this new way of onboarding participants is a change in practice. We are delighted to be working together on this exciting programme which will have a positive impact on those living with Type 1 diabetes as well as local teams across Scotland.
We are planning to arrange MS teams calls with local diabetes teams over the coming weeks to introduce ourselves and discuss any queries you may have and clarify details about the onboarding process.
We will be working in keeping with best practice guidance and have devised the pathways following lived experience focus groups, where those living with or parent/carers of someone with CLS devices have provided feedback and suggestions on how they would want sessions to be delivered.
We will be able to provide further clarity around the timeline from referral to onboarding once we get an idea of the volume and type of referrals we receive.
Contact us
Please feel free to contact the team any time at: nationaldiabetesclsteam@gjnh.scot.nhs.uk
We will aim to respond within 3 working days.