Trudi Deakin: Education and empowerment to beat diabetes

It is largely due to the Diabetes Type 2 epidemic that is sweeping the UK almost unchecked and which is preventable. Knowledge is power and if people at risk or newly diagnosed with diabetes had access to the right information, they would be able to manage their condition under control to the stage where some would be able to give up prescription medication altogether.

However, thanks to the unique way medical services are managed and prescribed in the four nations, it can be a lottery whether or not you get access to proper education or end up with a “do it yourself and hope for the best” approach.

Worse, the Government’s policy on the eligibility of free prescriptions means that there is no incentive for people with diabetes to aspire to give up their medication. We are actually creating a dependency state, not working towards eradicating one.

There are currently 3.9 million people living with diabetes in the UK. Around 700 people a day are diagnosed with diabetes. That’s the equivalent of one person every two minutes.

By 2025, it is estimated that five million people will have diabetes in the UK. On top of that there are an estimated 4.75 million people at risk of developing diabetes Type 2 at any minute.

Added to the financial cost is the fact that one in seven hospital beds is occupied by someone with diabetes, and in some areas it as much as 30 per cent. People with diabetes are twice as likely to be admitted to hospital and one in 20 victims will also incur social care costs.

Estimates of the eventual number of people with diabetes are often guesswork because as the scale of the explosion has increased we are really unsure how many more people will actually develop diabetes.

The real worry is that the people who are now developing Type 2 diabetes are doing so due to poor diet and lifestyle. Not as a result of genetics.

Too much sugar and processed food and not enough exercise are all contributory factors and since the mid-1980s we have all been conned into believing that we should all follow high carb, low-fat diets.

It is worth remembering that if you take something out of food to make it low fat you have to put something back in to make it edible, usually sugar or salt.

November is World Diabetes Awareness Month and we are campaigning for every person who presents as being at risk, or is diagnosed, to be given access to a proper NHS-accredited education programme to help them manage their condition more effectively.

Good diabetes management has been shown to reduce the risk of complications.

Not only that, but people experience a boost in confidence and wellbeing that is empowering and impacts positively on other aspects of their lives.

Armed with the facts about food and diet patients manage their diabetes much more effectively.

Trials conducted by X-PERT Health demonstrated a clinical and psycho-social benefit with patients losing weight, reducing blood pressure, body mass, waist size, and improving cholesterol and lipid levels as well as having more energy.

When diabetes is not well managed it is associated with serious complications including heart disease, stroke, blindness, kidney disease and amputations. There is also a substantial financial cost to diabetes care as well as costs to the lives of people with diabetes.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) recommends that everyone diagnosed with diabetes is referred to an intensive education programme.

Equipped with the right information people can reverse the diagnosis of diabetes, but early intervention for people presenting at risk could avoid a positive diagnosis in the first place.

The time has come for a policy shift that will benefit the health of the nation and of the NHS. Eighty per cent of NHS spending on diabetes goes on managing complications, most of which could be prevented.

It’s a classic case of trying to bolt the stable door after a very hefty horse has bolted. Then trying to carry out life support while it breathes its last.

Rather than spending money after the event, wouldn’t it be a better use of valuable resources to invest in up front education programmes that can prevent diabetes?

By referring anyone presenting at risk as well as anyone diagnosed with diabetes, more people could have access to relevant and valuable information about food That 
way they could adjust their lifestyle to improve their health and that of the ailing NHS.

The question is no longer can the NHS afford to invest in improving self-management of diabetes but can it afford not to?

Dr Trudi Deakin is chief executive of Hebeden Bridge-based X-PERT Health. Diabetes Awareness Day is tomorrow.