NHS diabetes prevention that is personal to you
Online personal support is now available for people who are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, thanks to the new ‘Preventing Diabetes’ website.
The NHS in North West London has launched the website to help the 200,000 people who are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes in the area.
GP and diabetes lead Dr Tony Willis explains: “We know that patients may feel overwhelmed when they are told they are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. They are often given a blood glucose reading or a high blood pressure reading from their GP and advised to make some lifestyle changes. For many they leave this conversation not really knowing what to do next and how to make real changes to improve their health. This is where the new www.preventingdiabetes.org.uk website can help.”
Across NW London patients who have had a recent blood test result that shows they could be at risk of developing type 2 diabetes (called non-diabetic hyperglycaemia) will be invited to use the new website. (Anyone who would like support or is worried about developing type 2 diabetes is also welcome to go directly to the website and join.
After registering, patients will be able to see a personalised healthcare dashboard, displaying their latest blood results, including blood pressure, blood cholesterol and blood glucose.
The dashboard will offer advice what is good, improving or getting worse in terms of health and prevention of type 2 diabetes.
Support is then available on the site including: educational courses, meal plans and day-to-day advice to help patients understand how to go about making positive long-term changes.
Dr Willis continues: “It is much better for patients and their overall health to make changes before developing diabetes, which is why we want to support as many people as possible.”
NW London residents will be able to access two eLearning courses to start their journey.
- The first course is called ‘Introduction to type 2 prevention.’ An introduction to type 2 diabetes prevention. It provides people at risk and their carers the information they need to understand their risk of developing type 2 diabetes, explaining what a diagnosis means, and the steps they can take to prevent it from developing into type 2 diabetes.
- The follow-on course, ‘Understanding high risk of type 2,’ covers the diet and lifestyle factors that increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, along with advice and support on how to make changes.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Type 2 risk factors:
- Age and ethnicity: If you're over 40 and white, or over 25 and African-Caribbean, Black-African, Arab, Chinese, or South Asian.
- Family history of diabetes: You're two to six times more likely to get type 2 diabetes if you have a parent, brother, sister, or child with diabetes.
- Weight: You're more at risk of type 2 diabetes if you're living with obesity or overweight.
- Waist measurement: Your risk is also increased if you have a high waist measurement.
- Blood pressure: If you've ever had high blood pressure, this increases your risk.
- Ethnicity: Type 2 diabetes is two to four times more likely in people of South Asian descent and African-Caribbean or Black African descent.
- Sex: Type 2 diabetes is slightly more common in men than in women
For people who are already living with diabetes you can find support on our ‘Know Diabetes’ website, which is already helping thousands of residents across NW London.
