The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is trying to get through to young people via trail-blazing NHS podcasts for patients.Teenagers with Type 1 diabetes can now listen to them online at home or use an iPod or MP3 player to obtain frank advice while on the move.

The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital is trying to get through to young people via trail-blazing NHS podcasts for patients.

Teenagers with Type 1 diabetes can now listen to them online at home or use an iPod or MP3 player to obtain frank advice while on the move.

They have been developed by staff at the Jenny Lind children's department of the hospital.

And Mark Byles, 18, who has just finished his A-levels at Wymondham College, said: 'I have found them really helpful. This is useful for the target audience while very effective. There are no outdated colloquial-isms: it is the sort of language which is accessible to my generation.

'There were two I found particu-larly helpful. One was about a night out and what to do. It talked about a guy who had too much to drink and was arrested for being drunk and disorderly because of the effects of his diabetes. And there is one about going on holiday and what to do if the insulin gets lost on the plane.'

Mark was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes eight years ago. He said: 'At the start you think it is a really big deal, it is never going to get better, though you get used to it. I think the podcasts would be really helpful for people who have just been diagnosed.'

Joshua Stone, 15 and from Blofield, was diagnosed with the condition six years ago. He said: 'The podcasts are really good, and they helped me learn things about diabetes that I didn't know.'

Vipan Datta, consultant paediatric diabetologist, has been working with other members of the Jenny Lind diabetes team on the project. He explained: 'We were struggling with this age group. They don't talk to you; they don't read any material you give them. There is a gap in commun-ication, so we decided podcasts were the way to do it.'

The podcasts are each three minutes long and have titles such as Match Fit, Surviving Ayia Napa, Nights Out and Diabetes, Sex and So On. They are available through the N&N website and are due be available free through the Apple iTunes website in the next few days.

Dr Datta said: 'I am hoping people will tell each other about them on Facebook and Twitter and so on.'

The podcasts have been funded through an �8,000 educational grant from Takeda and produced by TWG.

Check out www.nnuh.nhs.uk/

podcasts/diabetes and tell the N&N what you think of them. An online survey and prize draw to win an iPod Shuffle is at tinyurl.com/ndhcyo