Wirral Community NHS Foundation Trust chief executive Karen Howell writes for the Globe...

This week I want to reach out to the 18,000* people in Wirral that have been diagnosed with diabetes and those who also have pre-diabetes.

Diabetes is a serious life-long health condition that can cause serious health complications.

Yet small changes to your lifestyle can have dramatic effects, so here in Wirral we run a Diabetes Smart course to help people manage their condition.

Barbara Wood, from Irby, was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes earlier this year after visiting her GP with raised blood sugar levels. After attending our Diabetes Smart sessions she made a number of positive changes to her lifestyle, including her diet and exercise regime.

Speaking about the course Barbara said; “It’s excellent and has helped me make meaningful changes to my every-day life - I’ve lost weight and I now exercise more.

"I even attend Pilates at my local gym. The course is really flexible too. You can attend sessions during the afternoon or evening, so you can fit the course around you and your schedule!

"You can also take a friend or family member along for support.

"My husband attended the sessions with me, he isn’t diabetic, but has learnt a lot and has cut down on his sugary treats.

"The team’s friendly support, knowledge and expertise has been invaluable to me.

"The course materials are so informative - you’re given a wealth of information to help you think differently about diabetes.

Whether you’ve got pre diabetes or type 1 or 2 diabetes this course will help you make changes to your lifestyle and give you help and support to manage your condition.

"It’s helped me so much. After a visit to my GP this week I found out my blood sugars have dropped which is great! I’d recommend Diabetes Smart to anyone living with diabetes.”

Diabetes Smart is available to people with type1 diabetes type 2 diabetes or pre diabetes. With type 2 diabetes on the increase the course has been tailored to offer more support sessions than previously for people with pre diabetes. Pre-diabetes is a critical stage in the development of the illness and individuals will learn how making simple changes in their everyday lives around healthy eating and physical activity, can slow down or even halt the development of type 2 diabetes.

There are sessions available on healthy lifestyle choices, support to manage weight, carbohydrate awareness and the effects on blood sugar levels, food labelling, physical activity, keeping well with diabetes and pre diabetes and a session on insulin use.

Our trained professionals deliver the course at St Catherine’s Health Centre, Birkenhead, Victoria Central Health Centre, Wallasey and Heswall Clinic.

If you, a family member or friend is living with pre-diabetes or type 1 or 2 diabetes our course can help you to make small and meaningful changes to your lifestyle and help you manage the condition on a daily basis.

You can sign up to Diabetes Smart by completing the referral form on our website wirralct.nhs.uk/smart or calling the team on 0151 604 7271.

Diabetes Smart is a Healthy Wirral initiative.

*Wirral Joint Strategic Needs Assessment