THOUSANDS of patients in Cheshire were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes last year.
This week marks National Diabetes Awareness Week, and at Thursday’s governing body meeting for NHS South Cheshire and Vale Royal clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), the shock reality of the disease’s prevalence was revealed.
The board was told that in 2018, 9,615 people were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in the South Cheshire CCG area – which includes Crewe, Nantwich, Middlewich, Sandbach and Alsager.
Meanwhile, 5,940 people were diagnosed with the type 2 diabetes last year in the Vale Royal CCG area – made up of Northwich, Winsford and the surrounding rural areas.
Dr Jonathan Griffiths, chairman of Vale Royal CCG and GP at Swanlow Medical Centre, in Winsford, said: “I think it is remarkable that this is a preventable illness.
“And yet we see increasing numbers of type 2 diabetes all the time, and significant complications thereof.”
Type 2 diabetes is a disease which means the patient’s body is not able to process the sugar in their diet.
That leads to high sugar levels in the blood, which makes patients with type 2 diabetes unwell.
To prevent the disease, doctors recommend keeping a healthy, balanced diet, avoiding smoking and aiming to exercise for thirty minutes, five times a week.
For more information visit diabetes.org.uk
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