The national rollout of the NHS diabetes prevention programme will commence this spring after success at seven demonstrator sites last year, it has been announced.

'Healthier You: the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme' is run collaboratively by NHS England, Public Health England and Diabetes UK and will offer 20,000 people in England tailored, personalised help to reduce their risk of type 2 diabetes, including education on healthy eating and lifestyle, help to lose weight and bespoke physical exercise programmes.

Patients at risk of developing type 2 diabetes will be offered at least 13 education and exercise sessions of one to two hours each over the course of nine months.

This first-of-its-kind programme will cover 27 areas and half the population in the first wave throughout 2016, and this will extend to the whole country by 2020, with an expected 100,000 referrals available each year thereafter.

Simon Stevens, NHS England’s CEO, said: “Around 500 people every day find out they’ve got type 2 diabetes – a serious but often preventable health condition. By offering targeted support for at-risk individuals, the NHS is now playing our part in the wider campaign against obesity… The benefits for patients will show up as hospitalisations prevented, strokes avoided and amputations averted.”