A DOCTOR who was instrumental in changing the way children with diabetes are treated in the North-East has retired.

Dr Bill Lamb raised about £250,000 whilst working as a consultant paediatrician at Bishop Auckland Hospital, in County Durham, after growing increasingly frustrated that there was no funding available for insulin pumps, which allow greater control over medicine doses.

The 60-year-old father-of-four aimed to raise as much money as possible by running 500 miles over six months – but the region embraced what he was trying to do and the total reached £250,000.

“We asked children with diabetes what they wanted and this was what they came back with,” he said.

“The insulin pumps didn’t just transform the lives of children it made a massive difference to their families. It raised awareness across the country and it became a bit of a national issue.

“I think we paid for them for two years until the Primary Care Trust took over. It is now an accepted part of treatment for diabetes.”

The keen runner, who is a regular finisher of the Great North Run, was inspired to become a doctor after a trip to A&E aged four when he cut himself on some broken glass.

However, with his parents in the forces Dr Lamb’s early education was not straightforward - he attended 20 different schools and lived in nearly 50 houses – but he was determined not to let anything stop him achieving his ambition.

After spending time working in Africa, he was offered a job at Bishop Auckland Hospital in 1988 and said it was a privilege to have worked there.

“I loved my job, it was just fabulous,” said Dr Lamb, of Bishop Auckland. “Everybody was important, we had a great team. If the children’s unit had still been there I think I would have continued to work. It was just the most amazing experience.”

Since the closure of the children’s unit, Dr Lamb has spent time doing emergency and on-call work at University Hospital of North Durham and also looking specifically at ME, a chronic fatigue syndrome.

Dr Lamb is still working part-time at the RVI, in Newcastle, but he hopes to continue to run, write and make time for a few trips away with his wife Colette.