Govt diabetes awareness programme

[bungeejumper]

Has anyone had any experience of the NHS's new "Healthier You" programme, aimed at spreading the word about Type 2 diabetes? I've recently had an automated circular from my GP, saying that although I definitely haven't got the condition, I am among the one in five people in the UK who are considered to be at risk. (I'm a stone overweight.) So will I please sign up for (>>fast forward>>) what turns out to be a nine-month series of thirteen 90-minute group sessions, at a location that's yet to be disclosed?

You'll have gathered already that I'm feeling slightly railroaded by this proposal, not so say a little bit nanny-stated. But not especially encouraged to hear that my local sessions are being run by the Reed employment agency. (WTF?)

First impressions weren't great. The girl on the telephone contact line had only very poor English and said her computer was telling her that Swindon was the same thing as Southampton. So where would my nine months of group sessions be held? Somewhere local to one of these two, apparently. (I am 70 minutes' drive from one and 3 hours from the other - this isn't going too well so far....)

Don't get me wrong, but I've got alarm bells ringing all over the place. Nine months? Blimey, I'm getting a mental image of something between a speed awareness course and a weight-watchers group, and since I don't have the condition anyway, I really don't see myself stopping work thirteen times to make a faraway destination, just so my GP can tick a box.

Look people, I can lose weight without group pressure - I've lost 16 pounds since May, 14 pounds still to go - and I've just come back from 100 miles of hill-walking, so I'm nobody's couch potato. Just send me the NHS info bumf and let's dispense with all those afternoons off work, okay?

Thanks for listening. Am I being unreasonable?

BJ

[redsturgeon]

I haven't heard of this but I guess that someone has done the sums and seen that by spending a few million on education that they can save more millions later on by not having so many at risk.

I would assume you are correct in thinking that you can do more on your own by researching the condition and changing your own diet and lifestyle to lower your risk of developing it.

I have no doubt that your local GPs will have a target to reach in getting attendance at these events and you probably represent an easier win than a 25 stone coach potato on twenty cigarettes a day with an IQ of about 75.

John

[bungeejumper]

I haven't heard of this but I guess that someone has done the sums and seen that by spending a few million on education that they can save more millions later on by not having so many at risk.

Absolutely. Viewed from outer space, it makes perfect sense, both in economic and in life/health terms. I count myself fortunate not to be a 25 stone coach potato on twenty cigarettes a day with an IQ of about 75, but I still despair about the implementation, which has insulted both my intelligence and my (generally pretty good) self-discipline.

It'll be interesting to see how this national project develops. So far I've heard loose talk of only 2.5% take-up during the first wave of the project. But it's still early days, so let's see.

[supremetwo]

I haven't heard of this but I guess that someone has done the sums and seen that by spending a few million on education that they can save more millions later on by not having so many at risk.

Absolutely. Viewed from outer space, it makes perfect sense, both in economic and in life/health terms. I count myself fortunate not to be a 25 stone coach potato on twenty cigarettes a day with an IQ of about 75, but I still despair about the implementation, which has insulted both my intelligence and my (generally pretty good) self-discipline.

It'll be interesting to see how this national project develops. So far I've heard loose talk of only 2.5% take-up during the first wave of the project. But it's still early days, so let's see.

Visiting the local hospital recently, I was astonished by the number of staff who were obviously overweight or obese.

If the NHS is unable to educate their own staff to change their life styles, there seems little hope that the general population will change their ways.

http://www.nhsemployers.org/your-workfo ... -resources
Of the 1.2 million staff in the NHS, it is likely that around 300,000 would be classified as obese and a further 400,000 as overweight.

And did I read somewhere that employers now have to provide stronger and wider chairs on request for obese staff?

[bungeejumper]

So far I've heard loose talk of only 2.5% take-up during the first wave of the project. But it's still early days, so let's see.

Not quite that bad, as it turns out, but still hardly an overwhelming success. 25,687 people had been referred by GPs during the very small initial rollout phase, but only 7,232 people (28%) had ever made it as far as registration - of whom presumably some had self-registered and hadn't come through the GP route at all. And it sounds like they were already dropping out in large numbers.

"Professor Kamlesh Khunti, ....a member of the steering committee of the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, said: “The lesson here for the national programme is, we haven’t thought through how we retain people who attend the programme...There isn’t much happening in terms of engagement and getting people through.... - how can we keep people going on the programme?

....We may need to tailor our programmes – for example, not everyone wants to come to face-to-face sessions, but once they have been to one face-to-face meeting, maybe they can get online programmes.” http://diabetestimes.co.uk/new-research ... es-scheme/


D'you know, for the life of me I can't think why all those people didn't think turning up at meetings for nine solid months was a workable plan? Boffins, eh? Still, it sounds like they're going to develop a more palatable proposition, so I'll certainly give it a whirl when they do.

BJ

[UncleEbenezer]

Never heard of this programme. Yet I'd expect to be prime target market: they know my age and BMI, and have ticked some of their "getting old" boxes for me[1].

Is this some kind of trial in ... well, I guess Swindon and Southampton and the locus of your location could be generically "western home counties"? So once they've learned lessons from you, they might start appearing here?

[1] Should I go for that 'flu jab they're offering?

[bungeejumper]

[1] Should I go for that 'flu jab they're offering?

It's your call entirely, but I wouldn't feel inclined to miss mine. The two markers for me are firstly that I'm (just) past the 65 marker, and secondly that five years ago I copped a bout of pneumonia which landed me in hospital and ate several chunks out of my nearside lung. (The consequence of a fairly ordinary chest cold virus which ran bacterially amok.) I'm pretty fit and active, but staying that way depends on not getting any more chest bugs!

As a confirmed wrinkly I can get the jab done free, either at my doctor's surgery or (rather more conveniently) at Sainsburys/Lloyds pharmacy/Asda etc. They charge non-oldies £11, which is still a bargain IMHO. I believe that other front-line workers (healthcare professionals, carers and some teachers) can get the surgery jab for free, as do pregnant women and certain other at-risk categories. But I'd have thought that anybody in a customer-facing position should sensibly consider it. (I believe this year's flu jab cocktail includes H1N1 swine flu, which is pretty rampant among schoolchildren although we're getting naturally more tolerant of it.)

It helps if you can time the jab to suit your work schedule. I already had a mild cold when I had this year's jab done, and it knocked me down a bit for a day or so. But it was a fair swap when considered against the alternative scenario. Pneumonia wasn't the best fun I've ever had.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/flu

BJ