GPs are set to screen millions more people in NHS England’s new national diabetes prevention strategy under which at-risk patients could receive free cooking classes and Zumba on prescription.
The programme, which will be rolled out nationally from April next year, will be piloted in seven areas of England and target up to 10,000 patients.
Led jointly by NHS England, Public Health England and Diabetes UK, the strategy aims to reduce England’s ever-growing spend on diabetes treatment that already stands at some £10bn annually.
NHS England said the trials would determine how best to target patients nationally, with some pilots using GPs to do targeted screening of patients and others targeting patients via an expansion to the NHS Health Checks scheme.
