Children and young people’s diabetes service

Overview

Many children have diabetes mellitus, which can start at any age. Most children have type 1 diabetes so need insulin but some children and young people have other forms of diabetes. At the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, care for children and young people up to their 19th birthday is provided by a multidisciplinary diabetes team. Our service is predominantly an out-patient specialty, with clinics held at Barnet, Chase Farm and the Royal Free hospitals. The multi-disciplinary team includes doctors, specialist nurses, dietitians and professionals from child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS).

Our team teaches families how to manage their child’s condition, with specific education about carbohydrate counting and insulin dose adjustment. The paediatric diabetes specialist nurses work closely with schools and nurseries to ensure staff there are confident and competent in supporting children with diabetes.

Contact

Do you have an appointment?

Find your ward

  • Barnet Hospital

    Wellhouse Lane 
    Barnet, Hertfordshire
    EN5 3DJ

    You can reach the diabetes team at Barnet & Chase Farm via email or telephone (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm):

    If you need advice outside these hours, please call Galaxy Ward at Barnet Hospital on 0208 216 5195.

    You can also reach the dietitians at Barnet & Chase Farm via email or telephone:

    • Email: RF.TR-PAEDDIET@nhs.net (respond typically within 3 working days)
    • Telephone: 0208 216 4351 (voicemail facilities available)

    If you have any queries about your child's appointment, please call the children's outpatient department at Barnet Hospital on 0208 216 5201.

  • Chase Farm Hospital

    The Ridgeway 
    Enfield, Middlesex
    EN2 8JL

    Email: RF.TR-PAEDDIET@nhs.net
    Telephone: 0208 216 4351

    You can reach the diabetes team at Barnet & Chase Farm via email or telephone (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm):

    If you need advice outside these hours, please call Galaxy Ward at Barnet Hospital on 0208 216 5195.

    You can also reach the dietitians at Barnet & Chase Farm via email or telephone:

    • Email: RF.TR-PAEDDIET@nhs.net (respond typically within 3 working days)
    • Telephone: 0208 216 4351 (voicemail facilities available)

    If you have any queries about your child's appointment, please call the children's outpatient department at Chase Farm Hospital on 0208 375 1901.

  • Royal Free Hospital

    Pond Street
    London
    NW3 2QG

    You can reach the diabetes team at the Royal Free Hospital via telephone or email (Mon-Fri, 9am-5pm):

    If you need advice outside these hours or during weekends and bank holidays:

    Ring Switchboard on 0207 794 0500, and ask for the Paediatric On-call Consultant – on Bleep 1000

    You can reach the dietitians at the Royal Free Hospital via telephone:

    • Telephone: 0207 7940 500 (Extension: 35716)

    If you have any queries about your child's appointment, please call the children's outpatient department (Clinic 1) at the Royal Free Hospital on 0207 830 2144.

Referrals

Referral details

Any child suspected of having diabetes should be referred to our service by telephone the same day. Fasting blood glucose tests or oral glucose tolerance tests are not required but a random blood glucose can be checked on a fingerprick test.

Referrals should be directed to the on-call paediatric registrar at Barnet Hospital or to the attending paediatrician at the Royal Free Hospital. They will arrange for the child to be seen the same day.

Ward admission enables the family to meet the different members of the multi-disciplinary team and to have structured education about diabetes.

The Team

In this section