Patients across Suffolk and north Essex are to benefit from the expansion of a nationwide diabetes prevention programme, NHS chiefs have said.
People with Type 2 diabetes in both counties will get personalised help – including education about healthy eating and lifestyle choices, reducing weight through tailored physical exercise programmes and portion control.
Health bosses say that together, these three elements have been proven to reduce the risk of developing the disease.
Patients will gain access to the Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme by being referred onto it by medics in the region. During the first wave of the scheme, run collaboratively by NHS England, Public Health England and Diabetes UK, 50,000 people across the country were referred smashing an original target of 10,000.
NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said: “With more than 18,000 people in England having already started our diabetes prevention programme, the NHS is doing its bit but this is a battle we cannot win alone.”
Health services in Suffolk and north Essex are also being given a portion of cash from the national £42million funding pot.
The area’s STP will receive £955,000 across three clinical commissioning groups, Ipswich and East Suffolk, West Suffolk and North East Essex.
Cash will go towards achieving treatment targets set by national organisation NICE and improving the uptake of diabetes education.
NHS England’s national clinical director for diabetes and obesity Professor Jonathan Valabhji said: “Tackling diabetes is one of the biggest healthcare challenges of our time, as the number of people with Type 2 diabetes continues to rise.
“It is crucial that we have an integrated approach to tackling not just the prevention of Type 2 diabetes but also the successful management of all forms of diabetes and it is essential that we support the spread of evidence based interventions to help reduce the harm that diabetes can cause.”
Diabetes UK chief executive Chris Askew added: “This is the first time so many local areas will receive new money to help them improve diabetes services.
“With three million people diagnosed with diabetes in England, it is right that the NHS is helping them avoid complications such as amputations, heart attacks and strokes.”
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