NHS type 2 diabetes scheme has prevented 18,000 diagnoses, data shows

Thousands of people have avoided developing type 2 diabetes because of the NHS prevention programme, a Government-funded study has found.

Data suggests the scheme resulted in a 7% reduction in the number of new type 2 diabetes diagnoses in England between 2018 and 2019, representing around 18,000 people.

The University of Manchester research also showed that completing the nine-month NHS programme reduces a patient’s chance of developing the condition by more than a third (37%), NHS England said today.

Almost one million people have been referred to the programme – which provides advice on healthy eating and exercise – since it was first launched in 2016, it added.

Participants who complete the scheme achieve an average weight loss of 3.3kg, it said.

NHS England said that evidence has shown that the national diabetes prevention programme is ‘highly cost-effective in the long term’.

Previous estimates suggest diabetes could affect almost 9% of the population – 4.2 million people – by 2030, with evidence showing the NHS spends around £10bn per year on the condition, representing around 10% of its entire budget, it said.

But the Diabetes UK warned last year that up to 5.5 million people could be living with some form of the condition by the end of the decade.

NHS national clinical director for diabetes and obesity Professor Jonathan Valabhji said: ‘The evidence is now clear – the NHS is preventing type 2 diabetes and is helping thousands of people to lead healthier lives.

‘Summer 2018 saw England become the first country to achieve universal coverage with such a programme. This latest evidence shows that the programme can have a major impact on peoples’ lives.’

The research, funded by UK Government agency the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), is due to be presented at the annual Diabetes UK Professional Conference this week.

Experts are expected to tell conference delegates that the programme will improve the health of ‘hundreds of thousands of people’, NHS England said.

NHS England reported in 2020 that people completing the NHS diabetes prevention programme lost an average of 2kg, while in 2019 figures showed participants attending ‘most’ of the sessions lost an average of 3.4kg.

It comes as a study has found that adults who recover from mild Covid-19 appear to be at higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

And last month, NICE said it has consulted on recommendations to dramatically expand access to continuous blood glucose monitoring devices to all adults with type 1 diabetes and some with type 2 disease.

Meanwhile, NHS England said in January that people with type 2 diabetes on the NHS soups and shakes diet lost an average of 13kg in three months.

A version of this article was originally published on Nursing in Practice‘s sister publication Pulse.