This site is intended for health professionals only


GPs won’t be swamped by the diabetes prevention programme

From Dr Matt Kearney, GP in Runcorn and National Clinical Advisor NHS England and Public Health England, Dr Peter Green, GP in Cliffe Woods and Lead Medway Diabetes Prevention Demonstrator Project, Dr Stephen Liversedge, GP in Bolton and Clinical Director of Primary Care Bolton, and Dr Sheila McCorkindale, GP in Salford and Long term conditions lead (diabetes and kidney) Salford CCG

Your headline ‘GPs to be tasked with finding five million at high risk of type 2 diabetes’, implies that GPs will be swamped by a case-finding exercise for the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NHS DPP).

NHS DPP is being launched because of compelling evidence that intensive lifestyle interventions substantially reduce the incidence of diabetes in those at high risk, and hence will reduce GP workload and patient morbidity.

In general practice we have many patients on our registers with non-diabetic hyperglycaemia (NDH) and the NHS DPP will at last provide us with an evidence-based service to refer patients to.

We will continue to detect NDH opportunistically but most of the new case finding and source of referrals will come from NHS Health Checks. Everyone agrees we need wider political action on obesity, but on behalf of our patients we as GPs also have a part to play.


          

Visit Pulse Reference for details on 140 symptoms, including easily searchable symptoms and categories, offering you a free platform to check symptoms and receive potential diagnoses during consultations.