The head of NHS England, Simon Stevens, has announced that 13 new areas, including West Yorkshire and Harrogate and South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw, are now live and ready to offer a leading NHS prevention programme to patients identified at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

Wave 2 of the Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme is part of a wider package of measures to support people with diabetes and those on the cusp of it, to stay fit, well and prevent further deterioration.

Local people in West Yorkshire and Harrogate and South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw referred on to the programme will get tailored, personalised help to reduce their risk. 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.

Additionally, adults and children across West Yorkshire and Harrogate and South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw diagnosed with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes will benefit from £4.42 million of national funding which will be used to advance the care and treatment local diabetes patients receive this year. 16 clinical commissioning groups in the areas will receive the funding.

The cash will directly support regions to implement change and invest in four key areas of treatment and care. The majority of the funding will focus on:

• Increasing the uptake of structured education to help people look after themselves and stay healthy. This can improve glycaemic control and psychosocial wellbeing. Structured education is designed to help those people who have been newly diagnosed with diabetes and ensure that they are well informed and know how to look after themselves and stay healthy. The number of places offered will increase from 54,000 to 148,000
• Improving achievement of the NICE recommended treatment targets for controlling blood sugar levels, blood pressure and cholesterol. This can reduce the risk of complications such as kidney disease and renal failure, limb amputation and stroke and heart attacks
• Reducing the number of amputations by improving access to multi-disciplinary foot care teams in 50 parts of the country
• Reducing lengths of hospital stays by improving access to specialist inpatient access in 60 hospitals across England.

The Healthier You: Diabetes Prevention Programme, which is run collaboratively by NHS England, Public Health England and Diabetes UK, was officially launched last year, with the first wave made up of 27 areas and covering 26 million people – almost half of the country. The latest national figures reveal the programme is making good progress, with just under 50,000 people referred in Wave 1 and more than 18,000 on the programme in at the end of April. This exceeds the original target set in the NHS Mandate of 10,000 referrals during 2017/18.

Wave 2 areas will cover another 25% of the population, with an estimated 130,000 referrals and up to 50,000 additional places made available thanks to the expansion. Funding has also been agreed for another 12 months in the 27 sites currently up and running.

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.

Early analysis is positive and suggests that just under half of those taking up the programme are men – a much higher proportion that traditional weight loss programmes, while roughly a quarter of people are from BAME communities.

In Yorkshire, since July 2016, Leeds has been a wave one site for the programme and since October 2016, Sheffield has been a wave one site for the programme. Collectively they have already referred thousands of people to the programme.

Erica Martin, 48, a dementia nurse from Chapeltown in Leeds, didn’t have Type 2 diabetes in her family and never believed that she would be at risk of developing the condition. When she was told by her GP that her blood sugar and blood pressure levels were very high, she was shocked.

Erica said: “Because I’m a nurse I knew a few things about Type 2 diabetes, like that it runs in your family and people who are overweight get it, but I didn’t really fit with the typical risk factors so I never thought I’d be at risk. I ate salads and things like that, so it didn’t make sense to me.

“I am Caribbean and there is a lot of salt in our food. I really like salty popcorn and I used to eat a lot of that as a snack. I thought that I’d better cut down on the amount of salt that I eat, and I don’t add salt to my food anymore. I now go out jogging and I feel a lot better.

“I’m really enjoying taking part and the programme has opened my eyes to a lot of things. I really look forward to the sessions and Wednesdays can’t come fast enough!”

Dr Esther Dalton, a GP at St Martin’s Practice in Chapeltown, Leeds and a GP Champion for the national Diabetes Prevention Programme says: “As a practice we know how important it is to help patients make changes to prevent the development of diabetes and we’ve been referring patients to the programme since July 2016.

“We are very committed to the initiative and we’re already seeing health improvements for the patients participating. I really encourage all GP practices in the wider West Yorkshire and Harrogate patch to join us as we give a big push to make referrals onto the programme and help prevent diabetes.”

Dr David Black, Medical Director at NHS England (Yorkshire and the Humber) said: “We’re delighted that so many people with diabetes across Yorkshire and the Humber are set to benefit from our new investment of funds which will advance the care and treatment that they receive this year. We’re also very excited to see people across West Yorkshire and Harrogate and South Yorkshire and Bassetlaw start to be referred to our pioneering preventative diabetes programme. This will give people at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes the right support to reduce weight gain, improve their diet and manage the amount of exercise they do.”

Dr Kevin Smith, Deputy Director Health Care from Public Health England in Yorkshire and the Humber said: “We’re delighted that the whole of West and South Yorkshire, and Harrogate, too, are now offering this intensive support to people with a high risk of developing type 2 diabetes.  Type 2 diabetes is serious but it is also preventable: this programme puts people in control of their own health by giving them the tools, information and support they need to significantly reduce that risk.’

Stephen Ryan, Head of the North at Diabetes UK said: “Every day, around 65 people with diabetes die before their time. It is extremely important we invest in preventing Type 2 diabetes and improving care for people who have Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, especially given the prevalence of diabetes in the north of England is higher than the national average.”