Innovation and collaboration in NHS Wales
Talking Type 1: Books to support psychological needs of people living with diabetes Dr Rose Stewart, a Clinical Psychologist who works for the All-Wales Diabetes Implementation Group, has published a selection of books to help people living with diabetes, specifically concentrating on the psychological side of having diabetes. Back in 2016, Dr Rose was running a pilot in a Young Adult Diabetes service in North Wales when she quickly became aware of the lack of psychological support for people who have diabetes. From this, Dr Rose began to write her first book.
The ‘Talking Type 1’ book range has a selection of books to support children, adults and families living with diabetes. There are currently four books in the range – Diabetes Burnout, Not OK with Needles?, Diabetes Distress & Burnout for Parents & Carers, and a children’s book, How to Manage a Mammoth.
“AgorIP helped us to take the next step with our project and navigate the confusing world of contracts and publishing agreements. The team were really friendly and took the time to understand exactly what we needed.” Dr Rose Stewart Clinical Psychologist All-Wales Diabetes Implementation Group
AgorIP stepped in and supported Dr Rose Stewart and her team in taking the next step to getting the books published, negotiating a contract with Cambridge University Press. Yvonne Jones, a Technology Transfer Manager who is assisting Talking Type 1, said: “It has been a pleasure to help Rose negotiate a publishing contract for her books. These materials will soon be distributed worldwide, helping many more children and their families to cope with diabetes.”
With all of this in place, a large order of 300,000+ books has been requested from NHS England. With the success of the books and the publishing deal, profits from the books will go back into the All Wales Diabetes Implementation Group. This will help to fund and continue the project and support more people in Wales who are living with diabetes.
There are another two booklets in the pipeline – Adjusting to Life with Diabetes, for people who have recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, and another book for children, How to Handle a Hedgehog. Dr Rose Stewart said: “It’s been really exciting to see Talking Type 1 develop from a passion project to an international book range. We hope that these books can help people with diabetes to access some of the psychological support that they need, and realise that they are not alone.”
The books were an immediate hit with the NHS, have been distributed in all diabetes clinics in Wales, and are free for anyone in Wales. If you would like to access a book, please contact your Diabetes Specialist Nurse to arrange this for you. With the books being released across Wales, it wasn’t long until NHS staff in other areas of the UK were asking how they could get copies for their services, and people were getting in touch internationally too. Dr Rose Stewart approached AgorIP after receiving a recommendation. AgorIP brings clinicians, academics and businesses together to pioneer research into cuttingedge technologies and drive commercial success with the support of Swansea University. It has been part-funded by the European Regional Development Fund through the Welsh Government.
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