Parents are leading a campaign to end finger-prick blood testing for children with diabetes.

The Monitor4Kids initiative has been created to raise money to replace the testing with a new painless monitor, which is not available on the NHS in the island.

It has been kick-started with a £10,000 donation by the Manx Diabetic Group.

The monitors, approved by NICE, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, are placed under the skin and are ’swiped’ to get an instant blood sugar reading.

The information is then stored and parents can have the data sent to their mobile phones, including urgent notifications if their child has a potentially dangerous low blood sugar level.

Jo Wilkinson, who has a 12-year-old daughter with type 1 diabetes, is leading the fundraising campaign.

She was involved in a similar campaign called Pumps4kids, supported by Isle of Man Newspapers, which raised tens of thousands of pounds to ensure all type 1 children have access to pump technology to replace daily injections.

Jo said: ’Technology in the treatment and management of type 1 diabetes is progressing rapidly and six years ago with the help and support of the public in our Pumps4Kids campaign we managed to eradicate the waiting list for children so they have the option of insulin pump therapy compared to multiple injections per day.

’Technology has advanced again, and now available are CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitors). As these monitors provide 24-hour blood sugar level information enabling trends to be spotted this also means children no longer need to do 10 to 15 finger stick tests per day.

’These devices are available now and many people are self-funding, dipping into saving funds to pay for this health care for their children.

’The cost of these monitors compared to finger sticks tests is negligible but the benefits are massive, so we are now asking for the public’s help again with our Monitors4Kids campaign.’

Within the past 10 years Jo and her husband have had to set alarms to get up and test Danielle’s sugar levels throughout the night.

Following a talk with a paediatric diabetes nurse, the family decided to self-fund a monitor, which lasts around a fortnight.

Jo said: ’After trialling for a few days, we soon found this monitor was life-changing for all of us. For the first time in nearly 11 years we didn’t have to set any alarms at night as we knew the monitor would wake us up with an alarm if there was an issue with her sugar levels which needed resolving.

’Not only that, she no longer needed to do 10 to 15 tests a day and we were now able to spot when she was maybe going low or high before it happened, preventing a potentially serious situation.

’Unfortunately the sensors don’t last forever and when it came to the end of its life, it was like saying goodbye to a best friend, someone who had been at Danielle’s side to help her with day to day management of the condition.

’We were back to setting alarms again at night, doing finger stick tests again, planning when we should buy another sensor so she can have a normal life and do what her friends can do.’

Her daughter, a student from Ballakermeen High School, says that using the new technology changed her life.

’I loved it,’ she said. ’It’s great! Not only did it alert me when I was low or high, it also told me if I was likely to go low or high. I didn’t have to prick my fingers which are scarred from 10 years of testing.

’It meant I wasn’t doing finger prick tests in school, people weren’t looking at me weirdly and cringing at the sight of blood. I felt like everyone else.

’When I wanted to see what my sugars were I just looked at my phone - and as a 12-year-old I do that a lot anyway.’

About 45 children and 400 adults have type 1 diabetes in the island.

The Manx Diabetic Group is a charity that supports those affected by both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and is taking part in the Monitors4Kids campaign.

The chairman of the MDG, Joanne Clague, said: ’We are in this awful situation where parents are using up their savings to buy monitors so that they can give their child the best medical care available.

’As a charity we have previously called on the government to make them available on the NHS to replace finger prick blood testing. This needs addressing so that families who are already struggling with a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes needn’t worry about finding the money for monitors.’

The campaign will have its official launch in July.

If you would like to find out more about Monitors4Kids, email [email protected] or contact the Manx Diabetic Group charity which is supporting the campaign on [email protected]