Diabetes Network

Diabetes – a partnership priority

Two women sat next to each other

Tackling diabetes is one of the Partnership’s priorities and one of the biggest healthcare challenges of our time. The human cost of diabetes can be devastating and more and more people are being diagnosed every day. Many people do not know that they have type 2 diabetes, even though it can have a serious impact on their life. It’s the leading cause of preventable sight loss in people of working age and is a major contributor to kidney failure, heart attack, and stroke. Having a long-term condition can also make it more difficult to recover from coronavirus.

There are currently around 3.8 million people with type 2 diabetes in England and around 200,000 new diagnoses every year. Around 22,000 people with diabetes die early every year in England. In West Yorkshire and Harrogate there are around 220,000 people who are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

While type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented and is not linked to lifestyle, type 2 diabetes is largely preventable through lifestyle changes.

You can find lots of helpful information about diabetes on the Diabetes UK and DESMOND websites. You may also find the diabetes pathway pages on the NHS England website useful.

Who we are and what we do

The Diabetes Team was set up in April 2020 and is hosted by Wakefield CCG - as part of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership. We coordinate partnership efforts to deliver the diabetes element of the NHS long-term plan and identify the greatest opportunities to work together in delivering diabetes care.

The main areas we focus on include:

identifying everyone in West Yorkshire and Harrogate who are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes
increasing uptake of the Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP) targeting the people most likely to benefit
signposting people to services for support, guidance or intervention
making sure people who attend the programme receive support to change their lifestyle in a friendly and supportive group environment. Reed Wellbeing was appointed by NHS England as commissioner to deliver the programme in our area. Sessions are facilitated by specialist coaches trained in behaviour change and diabetes prevention and recruited from the local community
supporting our partners in implementing the NHS Treatment and Care Programme. This covers: improving access to structured education; supporting general practice to improve patient blood pressure, Hba1C levels and cholesterol levels; making sure that if patients living with diabetes need hospitalization, that in-patient specialist nurse services are available - as well as access to multi-disciplinary foot care teams
working jointly with other health and care partnership programmes to improve patient care and experience. Examples include: The Children and Young People’s programme around transition and the Local Maternity Service to implement the new NICE Guidance so that women, who are pregnant and have type 1 diabetes can access continuous glucose monitoring (CGM)

There is strong international evidence which demonstrates how behavioural interventions which support people to maintain a healthy weight and be more active can significantly reduce the risk of developing the condition. The NDPP is a free national programme where those identified as high risk can access a specialist change behaviour programme.

The work is branded to the partnership while reflecting the local place activities and services such as Living Well in Bradford and One You in Leeds, as well as the work of the national and regional programmes from NHS England and Diabetes UK. It also includes the prevention work of Reed Wellbeing.