Latest news about the Diabetes Network and activities to support people in being aware, active, healthy and in control of their own lives.
List of pages
Pop up health check clinics in Wakefield
Colleagues attended a pop up health check clinic at a Wakefield mosque on 9 September 2023 and talked to around 40 people about preventing and managing long term conditions such as type 2 diabetes.
Trinity Health Group Primary Care Network organised the event at the Masjid Zakariya Mosque on Agbrigg Road and hope to run more pop up clinics at other local mosques. The events build on the Covid-19 vaccination programme and the community links that were formed during the roll out. The aim is to encourage greater individual health monitoring and increase knowledge about accessing programmes and finding out more about long term conditions.
Feedback about the project, led by the PCN health inequality leads Dr Saadia Hayat and Dr Saira Bano has been positive. The Partnership’s Diabetes Project Manager, Adele Brearton attended with Numan Ahmed from Reed Wellbeing, one of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme providers, PCN Health and Wellbeing Coach Team Leader, Paul Rudd and Cherie Miller, Care Coordinator.
Adele Brearton said: “Anyone can develop type 2 diabetes but some of us are more at risk than others. This might be because of our ethnicity, body shape or family history. We’re keen to work with local and national organisations that can provide educational literature in different languages, particularly languages spoken by South Asian groups who are more at risk of diabetes and cardiovascular disease (CVD).”
Dr Saadia Hayat said: “It’s incredibly important that we reach high risk patients, particularly those in high risk groups for long term conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. If we can catch patients that are at a high risk early, we can support them with lifestyle change and health education, whilst encouraging them to access appropriate services such as the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme for support.”
We are planning to run clinics on the second Friday of the month alternating between the Swafia Mosque and Zakariya Mosque and with other local community groups.
Celebrating the diabetes community
13 to 19 June 2022 was Diabetes Week with the theme ‘celebrating you’ about celebrating the millions of people across the UK taking diabetes in their stride – and everyone supporting them along the way.
In preparation for the week we joined forces with Calderdale Clinical Commissioning Group, Diabetes UK and Reed Wellbeing – one of the providers of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, in Halifax on Friday 10 June.
Our stall was very busy, helped by the sunshine. During the day, we talked to around 100 people about managing diabetes and reducing the risk of type 2. Many took the opportunity to get measured and weighed and assess their risk of type 2 diabetes using the Diabetes UK Know Your Risk tool and were signposted to our animation to find out more about recognising the signs. There were lots of conversations too as well and literature around the support available, yummy healthy recipes and handy tips in abundance about the small changes you can make to boost overall health and wellbeing.
During the week, people across the country, including partnership colleagues, took part in the first ever Big Diabetes Week Dog Walk.
We’ve also been promoting the two online structured education offers in place for adults:
- My Type 1 Diabetes - a free digital resource that offers tailored advice and information created by NHS experts and people living with type 1 diabetes
- Healthy Living for people with type 2 diabetes - a free online structured education programme designed to help users learn more about type 2 diabetes. Healthy Living has been clinically proven and can help participants live well with type 2 diabetes
See the Diabetes UK webpage for more information. It’s never too late to get involved.
Join us in Halifax on 10 June to find out more about fighting diabetes
On 10 June 2022 we’ll be in Halifax town centre, outside Marks and Spencer by the Woolshops, encouraging people to assess their risk of diabetes and use the Diabetes UK Know Your Risk tool.
We’ll be joined there by colleagues from Diabetes UK and Reed Wellbeing – one of the providers of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. Come along and say hello and find out more about:
- The signs and symptoms of diabetes
- The Diabetes UK Know Your Risk tool
- The small changes you can make to boost overall health and wellbeing
- What support is available to help manage or prevent diabetes
- The Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme
The event is a follow on from Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Week (23 to 29 May 2022) and a precursor to Diabetes Week 2022 (13 to 19 June 2022).
Using technology as an integral part of diabetes management
New guidelines published by the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommend wider access to Flash and continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) for people living with diabetes on the NHS. The aim is to allow all patients with diabetes access to the best possible treatment for their circumstances whilst continuing to prioritise those with the greatest clinical need. For more information see the Diabetes UK news article.
Supporting weight loss and remission of type 2 diabetes
We held three training sessions in March and April 2022 to support busy GPs with referrals to the NHS Low Calorie Diet Programme.
The innovative and free programme which is being piloted in West Yorkshire, combines specialist nutrition, behaviour change strategies and physical activity. Patients referred to the programme receive 12 weeks of low calorie diet (shakes and soups) followed by four weeks of gradual food reintroduction and eight months of weight maintenance, achieved through healthy eating, movement and behavioural change support. The programme is delivered remotely via an app, with supporting resources and one-to-one telephone coaching with health and wellbeing diabetes practitioners.
For more information see the case study on our difference our partnership is making pages.
Managing and preventing diabetes
We have developed a poster aimed at patients summarising the national programmes available to help prevent and manage diabetes. The intention is to provide you with an ‘at a glance’ brief overview of the programme including a brief description, who’s eligible and the referral process.
Empowering patients to take a more active role in managing their own health
Healthy.io has set-up their home urinary albumin to creatinine ratio (ACR) service in around a third of practices across West Yorkshire. Using Healthy.io technology means patients can test their ACR, which highlights early signs of kidney damage in at risk patients, including those with diabetes and hypertension, at home. We are seeing fantastic results so far and we’re encouraging remaining GP practices to take advantage of the time-limited service before it ends on 31 March 2022. The service is available for free to all GP practices in the Health and Care Partnership.
Let's DiaBEAT this event for practice nurses and healthcare assistants
Around 45 practice nurses and health care colleagues attended our online Let’s DiaBEAT this event on 22 September to find out what they can do to prevent type 2 diabetes. We held the event as part of a range of activities to support our Let’s DiaBEAT this campaign and help boost referrals to the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme. We’ll be doing more formal evaluation but there’s been some great initial feedback including:
“Brilliant lived experience of NDPP – John’s hard work is an inspiration”
“Very informative sessions. Brilliant work.”
“Thank you fab programme.”
“Had never considered the impact on diabetes prevention and climate change before today - and how we can all do our bit.”
“I refer to NDPP regularly but I will now encourage patients to do the Know Your Risk tool too.”
Attendees heard from a fabulous range of speakers. We've also included the links to the presentations where these are available.
- Adele Graham, Diabetes Programme Manager, West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership
- Rachel Martin, Improving Care Manager, Diabetes UK– North East and North Cumbria
- Jon Scott Operations Manager, Reed Wellbeing
- Dr Waqas Tahir, Clinical Diabetes Lead, West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership and Bradford District and Craven System Programme
- Dr James Thomas, GP Partner, Clinical Chair of Bradford District and Craven Clinical Commissioning Group, Chair Clinical Forum West Yorkshire and Harrogate
- Frank Swinton, Climate Change Lead
- John Ebo, NDPP patient
Here's a reminder of the key messages.
Attendees who attended the event and who filled in our evaluation survey rated the event an average of 8.8 out of 10 and 100% said they would now refer patients to the Diabetes UK know your risk tool. See the evaluation summary for more information.
Let's DiaBEAT this 12 May 2021
Around 90 social prescribers, wellbeing coaches, link workers, health champions and support workers attended our online Let’s DiaBEAT this event on 12 May 2021 to find out the crucial role they can play in preventing type 2 diabetes. We held the event as part of a range of activities to support Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Week which runs from 10 to 16 May 2021. There’s been some great initial feedback and the format is being adapted by other regions.
Typical comments included:
“The event has given me more confidence about discussing the NHs Diabetes Prevention Programme with patients and everything that it offers.”
“Good informative session with lots of info crammed in!”
“Excellent session - as a GP currently developing an interest in diabetes this has been really useful.”
The line up
Attendees heard from a fabulous range of speakers as outlined below. We've also provided the links to the presentations we used.
- Adele Graham, Diabetes Programme Manager, West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership
- Rachel Martin, Improving Care Manager, Diabetes UK– North East and North Cumbria
- Jon Scott Operations Manager and Katie Coppack, Coach, Reed Wellbeing
- Dr Waqas Tahir, Clinical Diabetes Lead, West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership and Bradford District and Craven System Programme
- Leisa Batkin, Primary Care Development Team (Personalised Care), Leeds GP Confederation
Your pledges
We asked attendees to let us know what they'd do differently as result of attending the event and captured these in our list of pledges.
Key messages
Here's a reminder of the key messages.
Questions and answers
On the day attendees took the opportunity to ask questions which we've now responded to. We've put these together in our questions and answers document.
Evaluation
Attendees who filled in an evaluation survey rated the event an average of 9.4 out of 10. See the evaluation summary for more information.
Working with GP practices
2021
We are working with GP practices across West Yorkshire and Harrogate to identify and write to all patients at risk of developing type 2 diabetes to offer them a free place on the NDPP. To make things as easy as possible we have developed a pack with all the information practices need to identify eligible patients, do a mail merge, download template letters etc. We have seen an increase in referrals in those areas where practices have issued letters. See the evalaution report for more information.
Performance at a glance
We have published our latest performance figures on a page. This includes:
- The numbers of people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes for the period 1 January to 30 September 2020 together with the numbers attending education sessions in the same period
- Treatment targets for 2018/2019
- Number of people who have had minor or major amputations at using Fingertips data from 2016/17 –to 2018/19
- Number of people referred to the Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme from 1 August 2019 to 31 March 2021
- The number of people invited to attend the Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme from 1 October to 31 March 2021 (excluding Harrogate)
- Average weight loss after attending the Healthier You programme
The data that we collect and use comes from different sources and is available at different times.
Home testing app to screen for chronic kidney disease for people with diabetes
A smartphone app and home test kit enabling people to test themselves for chronic kidney disease (CKD) using their mobile phone camera is being rolled out across GP practices in West Yorkshire and Harrogate. A collaboration with health technology partner Healthy.io and the Accelerated Access Collaborative (AAC), NHSx and the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR has made this possible.
As GP surgeries continue to face immense pressures as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing vaccination roll-out, we join a growing number of NHS organisations across the country who are using this digital innovation to reduce the burden on the primary care workforce and enable at-risk patients to complete urine tests safely from home.
This follows a successful trailblazing project in Leeds CCG, that saw 1,000 patients perform a home urinary albumin to creatinine ratio (ACR) test and identified 235 previously untested patients as having clinically significant results (13% of the eligible patient cohort). The expansion across West Yorkshire and Harrogate signifies a step towards enabling more at-risk patients to complete urine tests safely and easily from home and reduce the pressure on primary care.
The chronic kidney disease early detection service uses image recognition and computer vision technology to turn the smartphone camera into a clinical-grade medical device, allowing people with diabetes to complete their annual ACR urine test at home, without needing to visit their GP practice.
Katherine Ward, Chief Commercial Officer and UK Managing Director of Healthy.io said: “Chronic kidney disease is a silent killer and has a major impact on society yet very few people are aware of its dangers. If our test can help to prevent people reaching that stage, it will mean a huge cost saving for the NHS and more importantly can help some people avoid dialysis or transplant”.
Urine testing for kidney health has the least uptake of all nine tests which are recommended by NICE and NHS England as part of the annual diabetes review. Whilst the test is clinically critical, 60% of people living with diabetes do not engage in the care process through the traditional models of care. It is estimated that 78,964 people across West Yorkshire and Harrogate do not complete their annual urine ACR test. Now, all patients with diabetes who have not completed a test in the last 12 months, are being invited to take part in the new home testing programme.
Why is the service important?
One in ten people in the UK suffer from chronic kidney disease, a long-term condition where the kidney functions gradually decline, costing the NHS £1.5 billion annually to treat. It is often difficult to spot symptoms until it has reached an advanced stage. People with the condition have a greater risk of having a stroke or heart attack. It can also cause kidney failure, when sufferers will need to have dialysis and a possible transplant. However, lifestyle changes and medication can stop it getting worse if it's diagnosed at an early stage.
For high-risk populations such as people living with diabetes or hypertension, a yearly urine test to monitor ACR can detect early signs. Until now this has only been possible by providing a urine sample in person at a doctor’s surgery, medical centre or hospital.
Despite its importance 6.8 million people at risk in the UK don’t complete the annual test. The current Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the problem, as people who are at risk are often medically vulnerable and can be anxious to leave home. This means many cases of chronic kidney disease are not detected until they’re at an advanced stage, sometimes when a person is suffering from end stage renal disease and needs a transplant or dialysis.
According to research, the app could prevent more than 11,000 cases of end-stage kidney disease in the UK and save the NHS £660m in five years. The health economics evaluation of the original service pilot, delivered by York Health Economics Consortium, also suggested that offering home-testing to the at-risk population across West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership could save the local NHS £4,276,885 over five years and help to detect over 1,169 new cases of CKD.
The service has been commended for how easy it is to use. In a recent deployment in Leeds, after six weeks of testing, 93% of participants were reporting the test “very easy” or “easy” to use. Patients up to the age of 94 have successfully downloaded the app and completed the test from home.
How does the service work?
After being identified by their GP or local health service as someone at high risk of chronic kidney disease who hasn’t had an ACR test in the last year, Healthy.io contacts patients to help them download the Minuteful - kidney test app and answer any questions they may have.
Patients receive the urine test by post, which includes a standard dipstick, a urine collection pot in which they dip the stick after giving a sample, and a patented colour board. The app guides them through the test, including how to scan the dipstick on the colour board with their mobile phone camera. Using artificial intelligence and colourimetric analysis, an algorithm reads the dipstick results with accuracy equivalent to a lab-based device. Then, the app sends a real-time clinical grade result to the patient’s GP or clinician directly, so they can follow up with the patient with a diagnosis and treatment plan.
Healthy Living for people with type 2 diabetes
Healthy Living is an online, self-management support programme and accompanying structured education pathway for adults with type 2 diabetes. The tool provides information about type 2 diabetes and its treatments, offers emotional support, and helps with adopting and maintaining healthy behaviours, for example, diet and exercise.
The programme has been launched on a small scale to obtain feedback on the programme and its key features. We are one of the areas involved in the beta testing phase. If you are over 18 and living with type 2 diabetes, or are a carer for someone who is, you can also access the programme at www.healthyliving.nhs.uk.
GP practices praised for their work to prevent diabetes
Latest figures show that GP practices across West Yorkshire and Harrogate are referring more people to the Healthier You NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme than ever before. The increase in referrals is largely because practices have been writing to patients at risk of diabetes inviting them to take up a free place on the programme.
In December 2020, 861 patients signed up after being invited by their GP, compared to November’s 683 referrals. The increase means that more people are accessing the tailored and personalised support they need to help them get active and healthy and reduce the risks posed by diabetes.
Greater Huddersfield was the highest referring CCG, followed by North Kirklees and then Leeds. Special mention to the top six referring practices which are:
- Lepton and Kirkheaton, Greater Huddersfield
- Blackburn Road, North Kirklees
- Thornton Medical, Leeds
- Elmwood, Greater Huddersfield
- The Grange, Greater Huddersfield
- Garforth Medical Centre, Leeds
Diabetes project managers continue to work with practices to reach at risk patients whilst taking account of the constraints on primary care because of coronavirus and the vaccination programme.
See our case study pages to find out how Steve turned his life around by following the programme and making small changes to his eating and exercise habits.