Diabetes Support Portal by MyKnowledgeMap Wins Innovation Award

A new website, developed by MyKnowledgeMap as part of an NHS project to support young people with Type 1 diabetes, has been awarded a prestigious Medipex NHS Innovation Award.

York, United Kingdom (prHWY.com) October 31, 2012 - York, UK, October 31, 2012 -- The UpBete project, developed with a team from Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, won the award in the Software and Telehealth category. The web portal that MyKnowledgeMap created for the project provides information and educational resources on diabetes care, and has helped to dispel fears and misconceptions about diabetes.

The Medipex Innovation Awards, now in their eighth year, are open to NHS staff members, academic teams and companies across the Yorkshire and Humber and East Midlands regions who have developed innovative ideas to improve patient care across the NHS. This year's Awards attracted the highest ever number of entries - over 150 - with 24 finalists shortlisted across the five categories.

The judging panel found that the UpBete project had increased the understanding of diabetes and the confidence and well-being of the families involved, as well as individual patient health, through the creation of an online community. The site at www.upbete.co.uk provides a support service for young people with Type 1 diabetes and their families, containing information, advice and online tools to help them manage their long-term health. It was designed and built with input from families in the Leeds area, the Leeds Children's Diabetes Team and Leeds Institute of Medical Education, to provide mutual support and advice in promoting self-management of diabetes, community knowledge-sharing, learning and public outreach. The website was found to have contributed to a significant improvement in the percentage of children with good control over their diabetes, while the percentage with poor control more than halved.

The online portal was developed by MyKnowledgeMap's project team and includes tools for sharing recipes with other families, and online social interaction. A blood glucose tracker tool engenders effective management from an early age with a motivating game-like aspect.

Rob Arntsen, Chairman at MyKnowledgeMap, said:
"UpBete's success is a testament to the innovative process the teams from Leeds and MyKnowledgeMap used in its development. The young people and the families who'd be using the portal were the ones taking the lead on its design."

"Throughout the development, we met regularly with the families, listened to what they wanted, showed them prototypes, and made changes based on their feedback. As part of this process, the families developed a shared set of ideas, and a real support network which the virtual online community could be developed around."

In their evidence to the judging panel, a user of the portal said:
"This has helped to normalise diabetes. This now feels like a family, I've got a support network."

Founded in 2000 and headquartered in the UK, MyKnowledgeMap is a leading assessment and learning technology provider. We enable organisations to improve the way they manage, assess and analyse learning, skills, accreditation, competencies and human development through our ReallyManaging® product range and large scale customised systems and solutions.

Medipex Ltd is the NHS Innovation Hub for the Yorkshire and Humber region in UK and provides technology transfer services to the National Health Service (NHS) in UK. They assist the NHS bodies and their employees in the region to recognize the true value of their ideas, ensuring that the innovations and Intellectual Property (IP) within the NHS are identified and developed in the interests of improved patient care and also for the benefit of the NHS and the inventors.

Contact:
Tom Holland
MyKnowledgeMap
33-37 Micklegate
York, UK YO1 6JH
+ 44 0 1904 659465
info@myknowledgemap.com
http://www.myknowledgemap.com/campaigns/press-centre.aspx

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Tag Words: diabetes, innovation award, new website, teaching hospitals, nhs trust

Categories: Education

Press Release Contact
MyKnowledgeMap
33-37 Micklegate
York, UK YO1 6JH

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