Doctor’s life transformed by artificial pancreas

After taking part in a pilot scheme at LUHFT, Trainee Surgeon, Hollie Clements says her life has been transformed after being given an ‘artificial pancreas’ to help manage her Type 1 diabetes.

After taking part in a pilot scheme at LUHFT, Trainee Surgeon, Hollie Clements says her life has been transformed after being given an ‘artificial pancreas’ to help manage her Type 1 diabetes.

Hollie, who works at the Royal, is one of 875 adults and children with Type 1 diabetes who have taken part in the first nationwide study of its kind.

Our Trust is one of 35 NHS diabetes centres across the country piloting the revolutionary hybrid closed loop (HCL) system – also known as an ‘artificial pancreas’.

When someone has Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas can’t make and release insulin like it should. This innovative technology enables a fitted insulin pump to ‘talk’ to a small sensor which monitors a person’s blood glucose and automatically adjusts the amount of insulin given through the pump - making blood sugar levels more stable.

Hollie has been living with Type 1 diabetes for 25 years, after being diagnosed aged three. She joined the trial in October 2021 and says it has reduced the challenges that were taking over her life in the operating theatre.

She said: “I can’t honestly describe how life-changing it has been for me. Life as a surgeon is extremely busy, and you can be scrubbed in theatre for up to 12 hours at a time. When operating I can’t just stop and control my blood sugar levels. Even though I previously had a flash glucose monitor and pump, I would need to check my blood sugars by scanning the monitor and then manually adjust the insulin on the pump. I’d let my sugars run high so I wouldn’t have a hypo at work. However, doing this put me at risk of long-term damage to my eyes and kidneys.

“Now I feel like a different person. Every five minutes, my blood sugar levels display on an app in my phone, and an algorithm calculates what it will be in 30 minutes time to adjust the insulin. It makes me feel safe, knowing that things are under control when I am unable to control them. At any point when operating I can just ask Siri what my glucose is, and it tells me – I don’t have to de-scrub. I really haven’t had an issue with my blood sugar control since I went on the trial. I couldn’t imagine going back to life how it was before, and I am so grateful to the NHS and the whole team at LUHFT who have been involved in this trial.”

Data collected from the pilot, which concludes in November, will be considered by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), to see if the device could be available more widely on the NHS.