Herefordshire Clinical Commissioning Group have partnered with Reed Momenta to offer individuals at high risk of Type 2 diabetes a place on the new Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme.

In Herefordshire, people recruited onto the new programme who are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes will benefit from Reed Momenta services to help them make healthier lifestyle choices and reduce their risk of developing the disease.

The recently launched national programme has already been piloted in seven areas, including Herefordshire, and will now work with four national providers to commence national roll-out across England.

Led jointly by NHS England, Public Health England and Diabetes UK, the ‘Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme’ aims to reduce the incidence of Type 2 Diabetes, an already serious public health problem within England which puts additional pressure on the NHS’s already strained budget. Every year Type 2 diabetes costs the NHS £8.8 billion, which equates to almost 9% per cent of its budget and causes 22,000 early deaths per year.

There are currently five million people in England at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. If current trends persist, one in three people will be obese by 2034 and one in ten will develop Type 2 diabetes. However, evidence exists which shows that many cases of Type 2 diabetes are preventable.

Type 2 Diabetes is largely caused by lifestyle factors such as poor diet, lack of exercise and being overweight, and these are the areas which the Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme supports people with.

10,000 people within Herefordshire have been identified as at risk of developing type 2 diabetes and patients will be able to access this programme via a referral from their GP Surgery. Reed Momenta will be working with Lloyds Pharmacy and other pharmacists within Herefordshire to deliver the programme locally.

Dr Sarah Newey, GP and Herefordshire CCG Primary Care Liaison Lead said: “We’re proud to be rolling out the first wave of this important public health programme in Herefordshire. We look forward to working with Reed Momenta to offer a tailored patient centred educational programme to benefit those patients who are at risk of developing Type 2 Diabetes and help them prevent a lifetime of ill health from this largely preventable condition’

Martin Fallon, Managing Director from Reed Momenta said: “We are delighted to have been chosen to provide lifestyle interventions for the people of Herefordshire with the aim of helping at risk people make healthier choices about how they exercise and what they eat.”

To find out more about the Healthier You: NHS Diabetes Prevention programme, visit https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/qual-clin-lead/diabetes-prevention/