Summary

Podding Peer Support began in February 2023 as a way for people who were using, or interested in, Omnipod, and living in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland, to connect and support one another. The community has an active WhatsApp group called ‘The Omnipod Squad’, with over 50 members. It also meets monthly online and in person, benefitting individual users and the local hospital diabetes team. Its success has engendered plans to set up and run other local insulin pump-specific peer support groups.

Innovation

On average, people with type 1 diabetes spend just an hour each year with a healthcare professional. The rest of the time they must self-manage their condition. Peer support has been highlighted as one of the key pillars to enable successful self-management. Podding Peer Support began following a conversation in January 2023 between the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust Diabetes service lead and the group’s co-lead. People using Omnipod had shown interest in connecting with other people using the technology. In February 2023 the first meet-up was held with five Podders. Since then, the group has grown to over 50 members using or interested in Omnipod. The Omnipod Squad WhatsApp group hosts individuals between the ages of early-20s to mid-70s. The group was initially for people using Omnipod Dash in manual mode, as well as those utilising the technology as a do-it-yourself closed loop system. However, following the change to NICE guidance in relation to the rollout of hybrid closed loop therapy in type 1 diabetes, there has been a substantial increase in people joining who are using Omnipod 5. This support group has not only benefitted those living with type 1 diabetes, but also the local hospital diabetes team, who have highlighted its importance as a way for people to support each other, especially out of hours and at weekends. The group adheres to recommendations set out by ABCD-DTN Best Practice Guidance for hybrid closed loop therapy about how hospital type 1 diabetes services should have a peer support group/intervention. The group is run on a voluntary basis and does not provide specific medical advice.

Equality, Diversity and Variation

A key value is ensuring that people have equal opportunities to get involved, while considering different backgrounds, cultures and needs. A female Podder with a South Asian background who came to one of the group’s meet-ups said that her family had advised her to keep her condition hidden. This was the first time she had connected with other people living with type 1 diabetes and she found the experience “amazing”. Podding Peer Support has a majority of White British people. The co-leads are trying to raise awareness to encourage people from different backgrounds to join, including by celebrating members’ involvement through the Podding Peer Support website and discussion on a podcast. The group promotes equality, diversity and variation through its interactions via the private WhatsApp group and monthly meet-ups. Each member is given an opportunity to discuss and share their experiences. Each face-to-face and online meet-up has a theme to help focus the conversation, such as hypos, physical activity, mental health, carbohydrate counting, holidays and travel or stigma. Some meet-ups have featured healthcare professionals from the diabetes team, such as a senior diabetes dietitian who did a question-and-answer session about carbohydrate counting.

Results

Since the group began, it has provided over 18 hours of live meet-up support and over 12,000 hours of live WhatsApp support. To understand its impact during the first 12 months, members (n=24) were invited to complete a knowledge and confidence questionnaire (K&C) and Problem Areas in Diabetes (PAID) scale questionnaire upon joining the group. At month 12, those (n=22) who had been part of the group for at least one month repeated the initial K&C and PAID scale to identify any changes, plus an evaluation questionnaire. In addition, 14-day continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) data (via LibreView and Dexcom Clarity) was obtained following written consent from each participant. This data was used to compare pre-participation values to those obtained at least one month following initial participation in the group. An increase in knowledge and confidence and positive trend benefits were noted in the CGM data. A total of 85% of members rated the group as ‘very helpful’ or ‘extremely helpful’ to their self-management. This is further supported by an increase in hypoglycaemic awareness for 23% of the members. Surprisingly there was a substantial increase in Diabetes Distress scores, by 21.5%, but 82% rated the group ‘very helpful’ or ‘extremely helpful’ to their psychological wellbeing. These findings could have been impacted by things like the length of time someone had been part of the group, and whether someone had changed their treatment method (eg. moving from open loop to closed loop using Hybrid or DIY). This is an important point, as over 50% of members stated that they had been using their current method of treatment for less than one year.

User Feedback

There has been much positive feedback about the group from stakeholders and participants. On World Diabetes Day four Podding Peer Support members took part in an Eden Chats podcast episode to talk about the importance of peer support and the impact that the group has had on their own lives.

Dissemination and Sustainability

Since the group started, a key part of its success has been the relationship with the hospital diabetes team. They email all of the Podders living in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland each month, prior to each meet-up, enabling all local people using the technology to hear about the group, while complying with GDPR. Awareness about the group is also raised via Diabetes UK’s group search engine. Also the group launched its website: www.podding.co.uk on World Diabetes Day in 2023. The group has been running for over 500 days now, growing in numbers and reputation. It is hoped that other insulin pump-specific groups will be developed within the service. To maintain sustainability, in April 2024 another Podder became co-lead, which reduced pressure on the other lead and introduced new ideas.