Monday 7 June 2010

Diabetes screening

Long time since the last posting, what with the excitement of the election and the ensuing aprehension about what is going to happen next to the NHS. We have recently been looking again at diabetes screening. We already screen some people at risk (normally those with existing heart conditions, mental health problems and those on medication such as steroids which can increase the chance of developing diabetes) and we have looked again at whether we should run a widespread screening programme. Currently the evidence as well as the cost/benefit does not support this plan to screen everyone. There is good evidence that screening all at risk groups is more effective. Are you at risk? Diabetes UK has an excellent screening tool to assess your risks(http://www.diabetes.org.uk/measure-up/) - if you are at risk, please come and see either of the doctors or Kim for a further chat and testing.

1 comment:

  1. Diabeties can cause long term effects on the heart and other organs. Some diabeties type 2 sufferers can have diabeties for 10 years without being detected. I think it's crucial to pick up diabeties early so that you can prevent complications further down the line. I think maybe give people a blood test which can determine those with "probable" diabeties.

    ReplyDelete