Endocrine Abstracts

Background: The return to school signifies an important milestone in returning to usual routine for children and young people with a new diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM). We aimed to identify the challenges faced by families to further guide how we facilitate this process.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective audit and service evaluation of the family perception of the return to school process for 48 children and young people, diagnosed with T1DM between January 2023-December 2024 at the Royal London Children’s Hospital. Data was collected from the Clinical Records System, Twinkle and by service evaluation questionnaire sent to the families identified.

Results: Service evaluation responses were received from 22 families (46%). Return to school in full time capacity was achieved in under 2 weeks (24%), between 2-4 weeks (32%), 4-8 weeks (32%) and >8 weeks (14%) from hospital discharge, with a part time return to nursery/school occurring earlier for some. There was no significant difference in age of child at diagnosis in association with time to return. School care planning meetings and in person school training were facilitated by the diabetes team, with 87% families clearly reporting an individual health care plan in place prior to school return. Return to school delays were perceived by families in relation to school readiness (55%); with families reporting school staff appeared very confident (27%), somewhat confident (59%) and not confident (14%). 41 % of families had opportunity for school staff to shadow their management of their child. Parent readiness (32%) and child/young person readiness (18%) and the young person’s physical health (9%) were also cited in relation to school return delays. Families reported 41% of their children were concerned about being different to their peers, 36% were worried about school, 36% had difficulties managing their glucoses, 27% reported disturbed sleep with 32% reporting no problems with the above. Clear communication and support from all professionals were deemed most helpful.

Conclusion: Close working between the families, school and diabetes teams is critical to facilitate a smooth school return and family responses provide important insights to help further plan the process.