CYP and diabetes champion Dr Fiona Campbell awarded OBE

Dr Fiona Campbell has been given an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to children and young people with diabetes.

Dr Campbell has been a Consultant in Paediatric Diabetes in Leeds for 27 years, and has for many years combined her clinical work with other local, regional and national roles.

Dr Campbell has been Chair of the National Children and Young People’s Diabetes Network in England and Wales since 2009, giving her a unique perspective of the national picture in the provision of services and standards of care given to patients with diabetes.

Currently, Dr Campbell leads the award-winning Children and Young People’s diabetes service at Leeds Children’s Hospital. This is one of the largest in the country caring for over 550 patients aged 0-20 years.

Under her leadership, the Leeds diabetes team has a national and international reputation for research and innovative practice, especially in the use of diabetes related technology and integrating their use into routine clinical practice.

This has included as Clinical Lead for Digibete, the award-winning online platform and app designed to provide families living with diabetes the support they need to manage type 1 diabetes. This app is now signposted and supported financially by NHS England and is used by all diabetes services for CYP in England and Wales. (www.digibete.org)

Dr Fiona Campbell said: “I am very surprised but absolutely delighted to be awarded this honour.

“I am accepting it on behalf of all my wonderful and supportive colleagues that I have been so fortunate to work with over the years. They have worked tirelessly alongside me to try to ensure that all children and young people living with diabetes access the best care possible in our country and lead long and happy complication free lives.”

Julian Hartley, Chief Executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals, said: “Having clinicians like Fiona on our team makes everything we do easier. Our Children and Young People’s diabetes service at Leeds Teaching Hospitals is world-renowned because of Dr Campbell’s leadership and drive. We are incredibly proud that she has received this very well-deserved recognition and know that she will be able to continue her fantastic work with her brilliant team by her side.”

Dame Linda Pollard DBE DL Hon LLD, Chair of LTHT, said: “Dr Campbell’s career in the NHS has been wonderfully varied, but with one crucial focus – improving the care for children and young people with diabetes here in Leeds but also further afield. At Leeds Children’s Hospital, we count ourselves lucky to have a diabetologist with Fiona’s experience, compassion and desire for improvement and change.”

Dr Campbell has a particular interest in quality improving (QI) clinical services for young people living with diabetes and her influence extends further than Leeds.

She has held clinical leadership roles at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH), been a member of the National Paediatric Diabetes Audit Project Board and since 2018 has been the Clinical Lead for the National CYP Diabetes Quality Programme and supported the development of QI collaboratives country wide.

In recognition of her outstanding work with the RCPCH, Dr Campbell was awarded an Honorary Fellowship in 2021.

Internationally, Dr Campbell is a member of the International Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Diabetes (ISPAD) and her Leeds based clinical service is a member of SWEET – a special group of certified, world-wide centres of reference.