The Labour's collaboration with Virgin Media O2 and SCD to improve healthcare access and outcomes for 32,000 children in the UK living with type 1 diabetes
In an announcement following Keir Starmer's and Wes Streeting's visit to a hospital in the East Midlands, Labour Party has unveiled a groundbreaking partnership with Virgin Media O2 aimed at ensuring every child with type 1 diabetes can access the latest medical technology to better manage diabetes.
With the NHS providing patients with type 1 diabetes the option of an 'artificial pancreas' in the next five years to manage insulin levels and Continuous Glucose Monitors launched nearly 2 years ago to monitor children’s glucose levels, the initiative aims to address the financial barrier hindering hundreds of families from benefiting from this breakthrough.
Labour's plan to provide every child in need a smartphone, facilitating access to modern glucose monitors, aligns with the centre-leftist party's broader vision to harness technology for healthcare transformation.
Announcing the partnership in an interview with ITV News, Keir Starmer, Labour Party Leader, highlighted the lack of equitable access to medical advancement amongst patients as "travesty" and "impact of fourteen years of Conservative chaos has had on the NHS", stating:
"Our ten-year plan for change and modernization of the NHS will bring our analogue service into the digital age. We will secure the benefits of the revolution in medical technology for all."
Wes Streeting MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, who recently criticised the Tories as the reason for "Britain's decline" , underscored the urgency of leveraging modern technology to enhance patient care and bridge healthcare disparities.
Warning that under the Tories, the NHS is failing to harness the benefits of AI and new treatments, Streeting said, "If this continues, the two-tier healthcare system that is emerging in our country today will grow, the gap between public and private widen, and the NHS will become the poor man’s service. That is the future we must avoid."
Virgin Media O2 has pledged to donate recycled devices free of charge, reducing the hassle and stress for those families affected by diabetes, by making it faster and easy to monitor blood glucose levels.
Nicola Green, Corporate Affairs Director of Virgin Media O2, highlighted the importance of digital technology in managing diabetes and commended Labour's initiative.
Carolyn Goldhill, Founder and CEO of Supporting Children with Diabetes (SCD), also expressed delight over the partnership, emphasizing the critical role smartphones play in getting rid of the "constant finger pricking to test blood sugar" facilitating remote monitoring for children with type 1 diabetes.
