Experts provide diabetes prevention tips to Leicester insurance company

Leicester Changing Diabetes promotes wellbeing and good health to local company.

The Wellbeing team of insurance company Hastings Direct, whose Leicester office is based in Saint Georges Way, wanted to promote diabetes prevention among its workforce - and Leicester experts answered the call. 

Hastings Direct asked Leicester Changing Diabetes, a partnership programme set up in response to the dramatic rise of urban type 2 diabetes, to spend the day with staff to promote wellbeing and good health. 

During their visit the team carried out 140 diabetes risk tests using a paper based version of the Leicester diabetes risk score, which was developed by the University of Leicester and University of Leicester NHS Trust and has been completed online by over 1.5 million people. 

It consists of seven simple questions related to age, gender, ethnicity, family history, waist measurement, body mass index (BMI) and blood pressure. It uses a points system to identify if a person is at low, increased, moderate or high risk of developing type 2 diabetes. 

Those who were deemed at risk were given the opportunity to have a blood test to check their blood sugar levels, which can also be a helpful indicator to whether a person could be about to develop type 2 diabetes. The people who were identified were given lifestyle advice and urged to see their GP by the Leicester team.

Academic lead Dr Deirdre Harrington said: “We had such a good response and welcome at Hastings Direct that we are really keen to do more events like this in city workplaces."

Mark Winterflood, the Inclusion and Wellbeing Manager at Hastings, said: “The health and wellbeing of our colleagues is extremely important to us at Hastings Direct and as part of our Wellbeing programme, we were delighted to welcome the Leicester Changing Diabetes team to our St Georges Way office. Colleagues enjoyed learning more and hearing advice on diabetes as well as taking the opportunity to take part in free diabetes checks.”

Leicester Changing Diabetes programme is in partnership with Novo Nordisk and the Leicester Diabetes Centre based at Leicester General Hospital. It is part of the global initiative Cities Changing Diabetes which was launched in response to the dramatic rise of diabetes within urban areas. One main aim of the programme is to raise awareness of type 2 diabetes.  The team offer a range of services, including screening and education to help workforces take control of their health.