Young people with Type 1 diabetes are set to receive more support following a national study coordinated by Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital staff.

A new online toolkit has been developed after research which looked into student's experiences of managing Type 1 diabetes at university.

Experts from the hospital, led by Dr Khin Swe Myint and staff at the Elsie Bertram Diabetes Centre, secured a research grant from Diabetes UK to look at the national provision of services for this group of young people when they move from home to university.

Almost 600 students from across the UK took part in the N&N-run survey and almost 40 medical practices.

Dr Myint, who is a Consultant at the Elsie Bertram Diabetes Centre at the hospital, said university life can be a difficult time for young people living with diabetes to manage their condition.

She said: 'The main problem that young people with diabetes have when they go to university is that they tend to go away from family and have a new GP and the new university schedule can be very different from their home environment.

'Seventeen to 19 is a difficult time for young people with diabetes as they are transferring from children's services to adult services and then there is a lot to take on with life at university.'

The toolkit is at http://uni.jdrf.org.uk/