Efforts to prevent and manage diabetes in Richmond are yielding mixed results, with some initiatives showing promise while others face challenges in reaching their full potential.
During a Health and Wellbeing Board meeting on Thursday, March 12, 2026, an update on the Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy revealed that the National Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP) saw 335 referrals in the first two quarters of 2025/26. Additionally, the 'Health in Your Hands' project supported diabetes prevention in deprived areas, delivering 255 health checks and referring 32 residents for further assessment. The 'Health in Your Hands' project also provides 1:1 support to vulnerable people with long-term conditions to ensure timely reviews and better self-management, and identified 35 residents with previously undiagnosed high blood pressure.
Despite these efforts, the estimated prevalence of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes in Richmond is higher than the England average, although the mortality rate for diabetes-related deaths is lower. The NHS Health Check Programme completed 3,002 checks between April 2025 and March 2026, identifying 11 new cases of Type 2 diabetes.
The meeting information notes that Richmond compares better than England for overweight, obesity, and physical inactivity indicators but worse for NHS Health Checks.
Strategies mentioned to address this include targeting NHS health checks to priority at-risk groups, for example minority ethnic groups, people living in areas of deprivation and people with learning disabilities
and making More NHS Health Checks are available now in the community on the Come and Have a Chat Health Bus.
Councillor Nancy Baldwin suggested a targeted approach to reach low-income families, proposing a notification in council tax bills. We could help identify where those low income families are and who they are so that you can do a targeted mailing,
she stated. This measure is targeted towards low income families
and at risk groups based on their socioeconomic status
. The logistical consideration mentioned is that the council tax bills have not yet been sent out, allowing for this notification to be included. Privacy considerations are implicitly addressed by Councillor Baldwin's suggestion to ask if you can use the low income family tracker program
and the subsequent response that I'm sure it shouldn't be a problem to be able to target at some geographical level in terms of the people would want to see coming forward,
and that I don't think we'd need to do data sharing to do that actually. I think if you're just sending letters out to anyone over 40 in at risk groups based on their socioeconomic status, you can just ask them to book in with their GP and ask for a health check. And it doesn't require any days to move between organizations.
While progress is being made, the data indicates a need for continued focus and potentially expanded resources to effectively tackle the prevalence of diabetes and related conditions in Richmond. The full update on the Joint Local Health and Wellbeing Strategy can be found in the JLHWS Live Well Update Cover Note.
