Dan Jarvis – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Dan Jarvis on 2015-11-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what is being done to raise awareness of diabetes and to encourage people to seek medical advice for this condition.

Jane Ellison

The NHS Health Check programme is one of the mandatory public health functions of local authorities in England. It aims to prevent some of the biggest causes of premature death and disability in people aged 40-74.A routine part of NHS Health Check involves assessing a person’s risk of Type 2 diabetes and, for those at risk, a diagnostic test to confirm whether they have the condition. This then informs a discussion on, and agreement of, the lifestyle and medical approaches best suited to managing the person’s risk of developing cardiovascular diseases such as Type 2 diabetes.

As the National Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP) begins phased national roll out in 2016/17, the programme will be providing information that helps raise awareness of the risk factors associated with developing Type 2 Diabetes and the lifestyle changes that they can make to reduce their risk – including, if eligible attending the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. This activity is already underway in our seven demonstrator sites that the programme is working with. Within Yorkshire and the Humber, Bradford is one of these demonstrator sites.

Building on the NDPP, the Department is developing its plans to improve outcomes for those with and at risk of diabetes. These will be announced in due course.