GP focus with Dr Alison Johnston

Our GPs are an important part of Bay Health Care Partners and here our GPs and primary care colleagues will have the opportunity to talk about issues and specialities that they are working on or interested in. This month local GP Dr Alison Johnston talks to us about a health and wellbeing programme that has launched in Mid-Furness.

In Ulverston, Dalton, Askam and Duddon Valley (Mid-Furness), we see and treat a high percentage of people in Primary Care who have Type 2 diabetes or are pre-diabetic.

Type 2 diabetes is where the insulin your pancreas makes can’t work properly, or your pancreas can’t make enough insulin. This means your blood glucose (sugar) levels keep rising.

Not only is Type 2 diabetes a serious condition but it comes with a set of associated complications including visual impairment, amputations, renal disease and premature mortality making it crucial that our patients take control of their condition and have the right support structure in place to help them manage their condition and in some cases reverse it.

In Mid-Furness we have launched a health and wellbeing programme to support those people in our communities who have Type 2 diabetes or are pre-diabetic. Through the programme we hope to raise the profile of diabetes and its associated risks, support people to better manage diabetes and reduce the number of people in our communities who will go on to be diabetic.

We look forward to seeing the impact of the programme in the coming months and hope others will consider adopting the approach in their communities.

You can read more about the Diabetes Awareness Prevention Programme here.