Diabetes is a key topic for Wallasey GPs. As a disease it is becoming more common and there are now over twice as many diabetics than there were 10-15 years ago.
As a practice we aim to diagnose diabetes as early as possible and to ensure that our patients with diabetes receive the best possible care and advice.
Why is diabetes important?
Diabetes is associated with a significant increase in the risk of developing heart disease (heart attacks & angina), stroke, blocked leg arteries (leading to a risk of amputation), severe eye problems including blindness and serious kidney problems.
Diagnosing diabetes as early as possible and managing it effectively helps to reduce the risk of developing these important complications.
Diagnosing diabetes as early as possible
The preferred screening test is a blood test. We will invite every patient aged 65 and over to have a blood test every year.
We will also invite every patient aged 45-64 who has any one of the known risk factors to have the screening blood test every year.
If a screening test comes back abnormal, patients will be invited to have further tests.
The most important thing most people can do to reduce their risk of developing diabetes is to lose weight - most of our diabetics are overweight at the time of diagnosis. Taking more exercise is also important - a 20 minute walk as briskly as you can every evening at the very least.
Optimising care of known diabetics
We will..
- Advise you about what you can do to help your diabetes. The fundamental advice is to ... Lose Weight and Take More Exercise. If you smoke then It is very advisable to stop. We can prescribe nicotine patches to help you dump the weed before it dumps you.
- Refer you to other specialists such as..
- Dietician who help you work what changes you need to make to your diet
- Optician (must be from a list of accredited opticians)
- Podiatrist - to advise on foot care
- Community-based diabetic liaison nurse (where appropriate)
- Hospital consultant diabetologist for additional advice on your diabetic management.
- Advise you to have blood tests at regular intervals. We will also advise annual urine tests (ACR) to check your kidney function.
If you use a mobile 'phone please give us the number and we will 'text' you when reviews are due. - Prescribe whatever is needed to optimise your diabetic care. Prescriptions often include medications to help your cholesterol and your blood pressure which both have to be strictly managed.
Most maturity-onset diabetics are managed with tablet medication. Some however progress to insulin therapy either because they have developed complications or seem to be at greater risk of developing those complications.
Diabetes requires significant patient involvement to ensure best management. The patients that lose weight, take more exercise to the best of their ability and switch to a low fat diet significantly reduce their risk of developing the severe complications.