Dr Sarah Davies, a GP in Cardiff and primary care lead for diabetes in Wales, said blood tests would often identify someone is borderline for type 2 diabetes, but “until now we haven’t had anywhere we can refer those individuals to get that support”.
“Primary care is on our knees and under-resourced across Wales. So sometimes those patients haven’t received much in the way of information about pre diabetes.
“That’s why I so welcome this program to enable us to refer these individuals into a community service.
“I’m hoping now that we’ve got this study that clearly demonstrates the benefits, this will support more widespread funding for this innovative program here in NHS Wales.”
She added that patients sometimes feel shame attached to being told they are pre-diabetic.
“There’s a lot of blame associated with it, which is not the case. There’s many reasons why people end up living with overweight, obesity and at risk of type two diabetes, many complex environmental, genetic reasons.
“So sometimes people don’t want to face up to it, but actually giving one to one support via this program is a lovely way to be able to give an individualized approach.”
Alisha Davies, head of research and evaluation at Public Health Wales, said results have shown the programme has been been effective in “stalling and reducing progression” to diabetic blood glucose levels.
She said “robust monitoring and evaluation” will help to understand its impact over time on “an important preventable disease in Wales”.