Healthcare Professionals

What is the Purpose of Structured Education for Children, Young People and their families?

The Background

NHS England has strengthened expectations regarding structured education provision for children and young people with diabetes. This guide supports paediatric diabetes teams to implement NICE recommendations for enhanced structured education delivery and monitoring through the DigiBete Structured Education Curriculum.

The DigiBete Structured Education Curriculum is QISMET-accredited, accessible (WCAG 2.2 AA compliant) and developed in line with NICE guidance. Designed and directed by NHS England, it provides children and young people living with diabetes, together with their parents and carers, access to a comprehensive educational pathway covering all aspects of diabetes management, from diagnosis through to increasing independence and self-management.

The curriculum builds on DigiBete's award-winning, ongoing comprehensive wrap-around self-management support, helping families develop the knowledge, confidence and skills needed to effectively manage diabetes throughout their journey.

The new ‘My Learning’ area on the DigiBete App can be introduced at diagnosis to provide equitable access to standardised, evidence-based education that families can complete at their own pace, complementing rather than replacing the hospital’s face-to-face education service. By delivering core learning through a flipped-learning model, it can reduce the time clinicians and healthcare teams need to spend delivering routine education, freeing capacity for personalised support, assessment and problem-solving.

The objective of this implementation guide is to support services in ensuring that all children and young people with diabetes, together with their parents and carers, have access to structured education, and that participation, engagement and completion are routinely monitored, reviewed and supported as part of standard clinical care.

The new ‘My Learning’ area supports NICE guidance by ensuring that structured education should be embedded in routine diabetes care, in line with NICE guidance and supported by monitoring through the National Diabetes Audit. Every interaction is an opportunity to reinforce learning, encourage engagement and support better long-term outcomes for children and young people living with diabetes. The ‘My Learning’ area helps you and your team standardise and digitally deliver structured education, freeing up valuable time to focus on each child and family’s individual needs.

“Structured education should be embedded in routine diabetes care, in line with NICE guidance and supported by monitoring through the National Diabetes Audit. Every interaction is an opportunity to reinforce learning, encourage engagement and support better long-term outcomes for children and young people living with diabetes. The ‘My Learning’ area helps you and your team standardise and digitally deliver structured education, freeing up valuable time to focus on each child and family’s individual needs.”

Dr Fiona Campbell OBE
Chair, National Children and Young People’s Paediatric Diabetes Network

Supporting Children and Young People living with Diabetes in Partnership with the NHS

• All families should have access to a structured education curriculum.
• Participation and completion can be monitored via the Clinic team’s own DigiBete Clinic Portal.
• Diabetes teams are able to review completion per patient / family and support engagement.
• Education can form part of routine clinical care and annual review processes.

The platform is a key opportunity to improve equitable access to diabetes education, empower families, reduce variation in care, and support a more sustainable, standardised, and digitally enabled approach to diabetes management across the UK.

"I think it's really well suited to newly diagnosed to build confidence in their own knowledge."

- 18 year old, DigiBete app user

Working to Reduce Inequality and Support the NHS 10 Year Plan

Reducing health inequalities across the UK

The new DigiBete Structured Education programme known as the ‘My Learning’ area will provide all children and young people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and their families, access to consistent, high quality education, helping to reduce variation in care and outcomes regardless of where they live.

Evidence-based and regularly updated

Content will be continuously reviewed and updated in line with NICE guidance, ensuring families and healthcare professionals have access to the latest evidence-based information.

Empowering children and families

The platform promotes greater ownership of diabetes management by supporting children, young people and parents to engage with structured education and prepare for their annual review, encouraging self-management and informed decision-making.

Reducing pressure on healthcare services

By providing accessible digital education resources, the platform can reduce healthcare professional time spent delivering and updating local education materials, allowing clinical teams to focus on personalised care and support.

Supporting NHS digital transformation and standardisation

In line with the NHS 10 year plan, making greater use of digital resources, the platform reduces the need for updating resources, printing, and reproducing paper materials, supports national standardisation of diabetes education across the UK, and aligns with the national guidance and NPDA data requirements.

Implementation Guide and FAQs