Engaging and empowering people living with type 2 diabetes    

The UK faces an escalating health burden with an estimated 12.1 million adults living with diabetes or prediabetes. The is fuelled by demographic changes, urban lifestyles and widening health inequalities. The UK ranks among the higher burden countries in Europe, with diabetes a major contributor to morbidity, mortality and healthcare expenditure.  

Evidence-based structured education at the time of diagnosis is crucial and remains integral to diabetes care. Approved programmes include DESMOND (Diabetes Education and Self-Management for Ongoing and Newly Diagnosed) for adults with type 2 diabetes.  

The 2026 NICE guideline advises healthcare providers to involve those living with diabetes in treatment decisions. If they have comorbidities, they should be invited to decide which of those health conditions to prioritise when choosing medicines to treat diabetes.  

Addressing health inequalities in care decisions and during counselling is also a major focus in the new guideline. There are recommendations for counselling trans men, non-binary people and women of childbearing potential about the pros and cons of GLP-1 receptor agonists (e.g. that they may improve fertility when people lose weight, hence the need for effective contraception when using those medicines).   

NICE specifically encourages the use of non-judgemental language in all discussions. Language matters. Healthcare professionals can make big impact on adherence and reduce stigma and stereotypes by using the right words in discussions around medicines and healthcare generally.   

As an example, weight stigma and fat bias describe the bias toward people living with obesity. Fat bias is common among healthcare professionals and the public. Pharmacists must increase their awareness of implicit and explicit weight-biased attitudes.  

Increasing empathy and understanding about the complexity of weight management among healthcare professionals can help reduce weight bias. Using inclusive and non-judgemental language such as ‘person with obesity’ rather than ‘obese person’ goes some way to avoid defining people by a diagnosis or condition.