Salford Clinical Commissioning Group have identified that 16,000 people in Salford are living with diabetes.

While there are around 200,000 people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes every year, there are currently around 16,000 people living with diabetes in Salford.

Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Week (1st April – 7th April 2019) is a week to shed light on the lifelong condition and make people aware of the steps they should take in order to reduce the risk of being diagnosed with diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes is a condition that causes the level of sugar (glucose) in the blood to become too high.

According to Public Health England (PHE), type 2 diabetes is a major cause of premature mortality with around 22,000 people with diabetes dying early each year in England.

It is often complications of the disease itself that cause deaths, such as cardiovascular disease.

In England, the gap in life expectancy for men who in live in the most deprived areas in comparison to those who live in the most affluent areas is 2.8 years. In Salford it is 12 years.

Salford NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme identified that Salford is the 22nd most deprived local authority of the 326 districts in England.

This correlates with the fact that diabetes can be caused by poor diet due to many people having to go for cheaper, readily available food as opposed to fresh, organic foods.

Risk factors for Type 2 diabetes include:

Dietary risks.

This refers to the fact that, many people from a young age are exposed to nutrient poor foods which are cheap and readily available.

People are also spending less time outdoors and more time using technology indoors, therefore reducing the amount of physical activity they do.

Obese people are 7 times more likely to get diabetes than a person of a healthy weight.

Being overweight or obese are the main modifiable risk factors for Type 2 diabetes.

Deprivation.

Individuals from deprived backgrounds may face every day struggles than contribute towards the risk of getting Type 2 diabetes.

Data from the Health and Safety Executive shows that in 2014, in the most deprived quintile compared to the least, obesity was 13% and 50% higher for men and women, respectively.

Type 2 diabetes is 60% more common among individuals in the most deprived areas as opposed to those in the least deprived areas.

Demographic and medical history.

Risk factors of Type 2 diabetes include ethnicity and medical history; for instance, a family history of Type 2 diabetes, age – being older than 40 or older than 25 for some black and minority ethnic (BME) groups, certain ethnicities.


Salford Clinical Commissioning Group (SCCG) have a specific diabetes service whereby patients are given annual checks as well as support and treatment to help control your glucose and lower blood pressure and cholesterol if needed.

The diabetes service at SCCG will take part in the National Diabetes Audit. This audit measures the effectiveness of diabetes healthcare, ensuring that patients are being given support and treatment which will help with their lifelong condition.

Within Salford there are places to go, including GP’s and leisure centres that help people who are living with diabetes.

Salford Leisure Centre have an Active Lifestyles team who run a Free 8 week personalised exercise programme – including swimming, gym sessions, exercise classes specially designed for people with diabetes or Non-Diabetic Hyperglycaemia (NDH).

There are many GP’s in Salford where you can go and be tested for diabetes.

Diabetes UK have an online test to see what your risk of Type 2 diabetes is.

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