£545,000 award to improve diabetes care

By Natasha Meredith

The University of Surrey in collaboration with North East Hampshire and Farnham CCG, SilverCloud Health Ltd and OurPath Ltd have been awarded £545,000 from NHS England to help transform diabetes care in the UK through the BEAT Diabetes programme.

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This innovative partnership is one of seven successful projects across the UK to share a portion of £7 million from NHS England to tackle some of the biggest challenges in health and social care in the country.

BEAT Diabetes will use online, digital platforms, accessed through primary care, to encourage and support people with type 2 diabetes to make positive lifestyle changes. Online programmes and health coaches will support people to adopt a healthy diet, become more physically active and manage their well-being. This will help reduce people’s risk of developing diabetes-related complications.

Type 2 diabetes causes persistently high blood glucose levels which increases your risk of getting serious problems with your heart, eyes, circulation and kidneys. Diabetes symptoms, treatment demands and stigma associated with type 2 can also affect people emotionally.

Figures from Diabetes UK have revealed that the number of people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK has more than doubled in the last twenty years and the cost of treating diabetes could potentially hit £17 billion by 2035.

Dr Debbie Cooke, Senior Lecturer in Health Psychology at the University of Surrey, said: “Diabetes has the potential to have a devastating impact on a person’s life however with the right support, symptoms can be managed and the potential long-term damage to the body can be reduced and quality of life improved.

“The BEAT Diabetes programme will guide and support people to develop and maintain healthy lifestyles and improve their well-being which will positively affect their diabetes.”

Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Matt Hancock MP said: “The UK is a world leader in medical and health research and we want to make sure patients are the first to benefit from the tech revolution happening across the NHS.

“Every day, innovative new treatments are demonstrating the power technology has to save lives – and I want to make these opportunities available across the whole NHS.”

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