NHS type 2 diabetes prevention drive receives funding expansion

The NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme is to be expanded, creating 50,000 more spaces in 13 new areas across the UK.
An extra £15 million is to be put into the programme to reduce the number of people who develop type 2 diabetes.
The Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme offers tailored and personalised help to people who are at risk of being diagnosed with diabetes to improve their health through diet and exercise. It is a joint project between NHS England, Public Health England and charity Diabetes UK.
When it was launched NHS England said it would support 100,000 people a year across the whole country by 2020, but now the organisation has expanded the initiative. Last year, NHS England reported that GPs referred up to 20,000 people to the program.
The programme is part of a package of ideas that Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, pledged in a bid to curb type 2 diabetes rates. These included providing more specialist nurses and funding extra diabetic foot care teams.
Stevens said: “The NHS is now upping its game on prevention, helping 50,000 high risk individuals stave off type 2 diabetes.
“But unless we also take back control of our own health, 2017 is going to mean another two hundred thousand people getting obesity-related type 2 diabetes. It doesn’t have to be that way – small lifestyle changes prevent large life-altering health problems.”
Duncan Selbie, chief executive of Public Health England, said: “Making changes to our diets, especially cutting down on snacks high in sugar and taking regular exercise can help people avoid potentially devastating consequences to their long-term health.”
Editor’s note: People with prediabetes who join the Low Carb Program find that they lose an average weight loss of 5kg after six months and increase the amount of exercise they do by an average of 33 minutes, helping to reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes.