£80,000 prize for ‘My Diabetes My Way’

Published On Fri 23 Jun 2017 by Grant Hill

A University of Dundee project that enables diabetics to self-manage their condition has been awarded £80,000 in a competition aiming to identify Scotland’s most innovative entrepreneurial talent.

‘My Diabetes My Way’ is an online platform which allows people with diabetes across Scotland to access their medical records online, support their self-management and improve their knowledge of their condition. It is now in the process of commercialisation and won the funding in the Round 10 Final of the Scottish EDGE competition last night.

My Diabetes My Way was created by the University for NHS Scotland has now has almost 30,000 registrants across the country. The team have now spun out the MyWay digital health company in order to take My Diabetes My Way to the rest of the world and it is this initiative that the Scottish EDGE funding will support. More than 200 Scottish businesses entered the awards before being whittled down to 20 that were invited to pitch at the final. Following this process, 12 were awarded funding.

“This award will make a massive difference to how we build our business and in accelerating its growth,” said Dr Deborah Wake, Clinical Senior Lecturer in the University’s School of Medicine and Clinical Lead for My Diabetes My Way. “We are already delighted by the contracts we have picked up since establishing MyWay as a company but this will really allow us to take the product much more quickly to the international market.

“The My Diabetes My Way service is genuinely unique worldwide, providing electronic health records access to an entire national population. Every day we hear from users that our website is a useful tool which not only aids self-management, but improves a patient’s knowledge and motivation to manage their condition.”

The platform allows patients to have online access to test results, clinic letters and data-driven tailored treatment plans. It also contains multimedia resources aimed at improving self-management, including traditional information leaflets, interactive educational tools, video describing diabetes-related complications and testimonials from people with diabetes talking about their experiences.

My Diabetes My Way has been internationally recognised as a model for sharing information with patients in a way they can easily access. It has been heralded as an exemplar of ehealth strategy in Scotland and previous awards the project has won include the Diabetes UK Self-Care Award and the European eHealth Adoption Award.

For more information about ‘My Diabetes My Way’ go to www.mydiabetesmyway.scot.nhs.uk. 

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