PHARMACIES across Gwent are offering free diabetes risk assessments to customers until the end of next week, as part of a Wales-wide public health campaign.

And a Cwmbran woman, whose diabetes diagnosis two years ago came as a complete shock, is urging people to take up the offer.

The simple, paper-based assessments are designed to identify people at risk of developing the condition in the next ten years so they can be helped to reduce that risk – and the assessments could also help find some of the 66,000 people in Wales thought to have undiagnosed diabetes.

Launched in Diabetes Week, this is the first co-ordinated public health campaign community pharmacies in Wales have taken part in with health boards.

Fifty-eight-year-old Yvonne Jones, from Cwmbran, was diagnosed with Type Two diabetes in 2009 and is backing the campaign.

“I already have rheumatoid arthritis and when I had tests in hospital I was told there was sugar in my urine,” she said.

“The doctor suggested I go to my GP, and when I had my results I was told I had diabetes.”

Mrs Jones was put on to tablets to manage the condition.

Looking back, she identifies classic symptoms, such as feeling very thirsty, but did not think they were caused by diabetes. “It was a big surprise. I didn’t feel well, I was drinking quite a lot, mymouth was dry, but I can’t say I would have thought of diabetes,”

she said.

“It was the last thing on my mind because I already had another condition. If you’re worried you’re at risk, go and have an assessment.”

How the danger signs are spotted

THE risk assessments look at factors such as Body Mass Index (BMI), waist size and family history.

Where appropriate, people will be advised how they can reduce their risk by improving their lifestyle. Those most at risk will be referred to their GP or practice nurse for a diabetes test.

More than 153,000 people are diagnosed with diabetes in Wales. A further 66,000 – around one in 50 – may have the condition and do not know it.

The vast majority have Type Two diabetes, which is often associated with being overweight.

People can live with undiagnosed Type Two diabetes for years and half will have developed its complications, which include heart disease, stroke and kidney disease, by the time they are diagnosed. It happens when the body is either not making enough insulin, or cannot use the insulin it makes.

Risk factors include being aged 40 or more (25 or more for people from minority ethnic communities), being overweight, having a close family history of diabetes, and having a large waist (37 inches or more for men, 35 inches or more for South Asian men, or 31.5 inches or more for all women). For information, call Diabetes UK Cymru on 029 2066 8276 or visit www.diabetes.

org.uk/wales