Nearly 90,000 people complete type 2 diabetes prevention programme
Nearly 90,000 people have completed the Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS DPP) and lost a combined weight of 185,051kg.
The first wave roll-out of the initiative started in May 2016 and was created to identify those at high risk and refers them onto a series of behaviour change sessions.
According to NHS England, 89,604 people have finished the programme and the equivalent weight lost between them all is the same as 43 ambulances.
Around four million people in the UK live with type two diabetes, with diabetes and its complications costing the NHS more than £10 billion to treat every year.
With expert advice on dieting, exercise and healthy lifestyle, the programme will double in size to treat around 200,000 people every year as part of the NHS Long Term Plan.
Projections show that the growing number of people with diabetes could result in nearly 39,000 people living with diabetes suffering a heart attack in 2035 and more than 50,000 people suffering a stroke and one in six hospital beds are occupied with someone with diabetes.
Professor Jonathan Valabhji, NHS national clinical director for obesity and diabetes, said: “Around two-thirds of adults and one-third of children are now overweight or obese, driving higher and higher rates of type 2 diabetes that we are now focusing huge efforts to prevent as part of our NHS Long Term Plan.
“Helping people avoid diabetes is potentially life-saving, so these results are encouraging, but ultimately the NHS cannot win the fight against obesity alone, which is why we are providing people with the tools to help themselves – changing lives and freeing up vital NHS resources.”
Dr Jenifer Smith, Deputy Medical Director at Public Health England,said: “It’s encouraging to see the early success of this programme which is helping so many people around the country make healthier choices, equipping them to better deal with what is one of the biggest health challenges facing the nation. It shows what can be done when organisations work together. Going forward we need to do more to reach out to those who may feel the programme is not for them, including some ethnic minority groups, who we know experience large inequalities in health.”