A TEAM from Hillingdon Hospital has been awarded £50,000 after demonstrating cost savings and improved patient results in treating diabetes.

The team will also benefit from access to mentoring from Janssen, a company leading the way in diabetes treatment and care. It sponsored the NHS Innovation Challenge award.

Hillingdon will use the £50,000 to extend its Type 1 diabetes school service.

A first for the UK, the outreach team worked with six borough schools to run clinics and recorded a 98% attendance rate, reducing the ‘did not attend’ rating from 30% to almost zero.

Over the next few months, the team is looking for ways to extend the scheme to community centres, youth clubs and GP practices in addition to expanding the scope beyond diabetes, to include asthma and obesity.