{"id":24899,"date":"2017-11-16T12:02:50","date_gmt":"2017-11-16T12:02:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/?p=24899"},"modified":"2017-11-16T13:06:28","modified_gmt":"2017-11-16T13:06:28","slug":"new-nhs-diabetes-prevention-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/16\/new-nhs-diabetes-prevention-programme\/","title":{"rendered":"NEW NHS Diabetes prevention programme"},"content":{"rendered":"

EMBARGOED TO 00.01 14 NOVEMBER 2017 \u2013 WORLD DIABETES DAY<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Mrs Baldev Ahluwalia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mrs Baldev Ahluwalia, who lives in Sandwell, is just one of 7,485* people at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in the West Midlands.<\/p>\n

But thanks to the NHS diabetes prevention programme, Mrs Ahluwalia has a new lease of life. Today, on World Diabetes Day, Mrs Ahluwalia wants to help raise awareness of the condition and how others at risk could avoid this life-threatening disease.<\/p>\n

The 71 year-old found out she was a high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes when she went for a routine Health Check at her GP surgery.\u00a0 Because there is a strong history of diabetes in her family she was advised that she needed to make some simple lifestyle changes and her GP referred her to the local Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme<\/a> (NHSDPP).<\/p>\n

Baldev was happy to be referred to the NHSDPP saying: \u201cI was pleased to find that the sessions would be run close to where I live and that I could take a friend along with me. Going with someone else meant that I couldn\u2019t let her down.\u00a0 It helped me stick with it.\u00a0 She is a good friend and, although she is not at risk herself, it was good to be able to share what I was going through with her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attending sessions at West Bromwich Fire Station Baldev continued: \u201cTime was taken to explain things to us. I am actually a retired nurse, so I did already know what I was being told \u2013 I just hadn\u2019t put it into practice for myself!<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sessions focused mostly on food changes and exercise.\u00a0 It made me more determined to stick to healthy options because I knew I was going to be weighed and measured each week.<\/p>\n

“I made changes to how I cook things and use the recipe books that were given to us and use different oils and butters.\u00a0 One thing that really surprised me was how much sugar there is in fruit.\u00a0 I love fruit, but I realise now that I have to cut down on how much of it I eat.\u00a0 I have also switched to semi skimmed milk and a spread that is good for lowering cholesterol.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baldev also started walking with her friend in a local park as well as joining a local gym to maintain her levels of exercise when the weather is bad.<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI am really pleased with the difference it has made.\u00a0 I\u2019ve lost about 9 \u00bd kilos, everything fits better.\u00a0 It has helped my arthritis as well and I can walk more now.\u00a0 I\u2019m very happy and feel I have achieved something.\u00a0 My friend has also lost weight.<\/h4>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI would definitely recommend others at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes to join their local NHS DPP programme.\u201d<\/strong><\/h6>\n

The local monthly Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS DPP) sessions cover nutrition and exercise and suggested behavioural changes to maintain a healthy weight and become more physically active.<\/p>\n

The NHS DPP was launched across Birmingham, Solihull and Sandwell in July last year and over 3,000 people have been referred on to the free programme in these areas.<\/p>\n

Professor Vinod Patel, the clinical lead for the NHSDPP in the West Midlands and a consultant diabetologist at George Eliot Hospital said: \u201cType 2 diabetes can cause very serious health problems but sadly more people than ever are developing the condition, despite it being largely preventable. This new hands-on support is putting people in control of their health and the early results show it is working and reaching those most at risk. On this World Diabetes Day, we are encouraging those that think they may be at risk to speak to their GP to find out more about the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme and please remember the best way to prevent diabetes is to maintain a good level of physical activity and a diet that supports you having a normal weight.”<\/p>\n

Professor Jonathan Valabhji, National Clinical Director for Diabetes at NHS England, added: \u201cIt is important that as part of World Diabetes Day we recognise the excellent work undertaken in the West Midlands to help people to prevent type 2 diabetes.<\/p>\n

\u201cReaching over 7,000 referrals to the NHS DPP is not only a huge achievement for the programme in the West Midlands, but it\u2019s also fantastic news for the people who are getting help to become more active, eat more healthily and reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sue Turton, speaking for Living Well Taking Control (LWTC) the local Healthier You provider, said: \u201cWe are delighted to be delivering the NHS DPP in Birmingham, Sandwell and Solihull, helping people to understand what has put them at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes and empower and motivate them to reduce their risk.\u00a0 We know it can be difficult to change diet and exercise habits, but we\u2019ve helped hundreds of people to do it \u2013 and enjoy the process of becoming healthier.\u00a0 Type 2 diabetes is a serious condition, but the good news is that with appropriate action it can be avoided.\u201d<\/p>\n

The numbers of patient referrals made to the NHS DPP in participating areas of the West Midlands at the end of September 2017 is 7,485.<\/p>\n

Type 2 diabetes can cause serious long-term health problems. It’s the most common cause of vision loss and blindness in people of working age, is responsible for most cases of kidney failure and lower limb amputation, other than accidents. People with diabetes are also up to five times more likely to have cardiovascular disease, such as a stroke, than those without diabetes.<\/p>\n

World Diabetes Day \u2013 14 November 2017<\/p>\n

* As at end of September 2017<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EMBARGOED TO 00.01 14 NOVEMBER 2017 \u2013 WORLD DIABETES DAY Mrs Baldev Ahluwalia, who lives in Sandwell, is just one of 7,485* people at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in the West Midlands. But thanks to the NHS diabetes prevention programme, Mrs Ahluwalia has a new lease of life. Today, on World Diabetes Day, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1225,"featured_media":24903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,44],"tags":[165,526,527,68,524,525,523],"class_list":["post-24899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-health","tag-diabetes","tag-diet","tag-exercise","tag-health","tag-nhs","tag-nhs-nurse","tag-world-diabetes-day"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1225"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.theasiantoday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}