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 while working as a consultant paediatrician at Bishop Auckland Hospital 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.

He said: “We asked children with diabetes what they wanted and this was what they came back with.

“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 regularly takes part in 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 Armed Forces Dr Lamb’s early education was not straightforward.

He attended 20 schools and lived in 50 houses, but was determined not to let anything stop him achieving his ambition.

After 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.

He said: “I loved my job; it was just fabulous.

“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 covering emergency and on-call work at The University Hospital of North Durham, in Durham City.

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