PATIENTS in Lancashire and South Cumbria are set to benefit from the expansion of a diabetes prevention programme.
The Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme helps patients identified at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
People referred by their GP on to the programme will get tailored, personalised help to reduce their risk of developing the disease.
This will include education on healthy eating and lifestyle choices, reducing weight through bespoke physical exercise programmes and portion control, which together have been proven to reduce the risk of developing the disease.
The ambition is for the programme to eventually cover the whole of the country and these figures could rise to as many as 200,000 referrals and more than 80,000 people on programmes by 2018/19.
Simon Stevens, chief executive of NHS England 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."
At a local level, nine clinical commissioning groups in Lancashire and South Cumbria will receive £1.14m from the national pot of money which will be used for improving the achievement of the NICE recommended treatment targets, improving uptake of structured education, new and expanded multi-disciplinary foot care teams and new and expanded diabetes inpatient specialist nursing teams.
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