Community pharmacies key to tackling type 2 diabetes
A new report has highlighted the important role community pharmacies in the UK can have in helping to identify people at risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
Published online in the International Journal of Pharmacy Practice, the report states that community pharmacies have the potential to help combat the country’s diabetes epidemic by assisting the NHS in detecting individuals at high risk of type 2 diabetes or early-stage cases of the disease where treatments can be easier and more effective.
The report is based on research conducted by the University of East Anglia which examined the outcomes of patients accessing the Diabetes UK Type 2 risk assessment in Boots UK pharmacies. During the first nine months of the in-store health initiative, which launched in January 2013, more than 21,000 risk assessments were carried out in 1,513 Boots UK chemists nationwide.
Peter Bainbridge, director of pharmacy for Boots UK, said data pooled from over 3,500 of these assessments showed the risk tests “play an important role in supporting early detection, so patients can take steps to prevent or take control of the condition sooner.”
“As the prevention and management of long term conditions such as diabetes continues to dominate the public health agenda, this …read more
Source: News from Diabetes.co.uk