Blood tests are to be offered to Bradford people at high risk of diabetes.

The city has been chosen by the Department of Health as one of nine pilot sites throughout the country to take part in the screening project.

The aim is to speed up the diagnosis and treatment of people most at risk of developing diabetes, helping to reduce the number of patients who go blind, have limbs amputated or develop complications of the disease, such as heart disease.

Doctors working for Bradford City Primary Care Trust, which will be co-ordinating the programme, hope to identify more people at risk of developing Type Two diabetes - the most common form - by introducing blood sugar level screening. Those at risk, who will be offered the test, include people over 40 who are overweight, have heart disease or who have had a stroke.

Tackling diabetes is a priority within inner city Bradford, which has a high incidence of the disease. It is more prevalent in the South Asian population and 55 per cent of patients seen within Bradford City PCT are of South Asian origin.

Of the high numbers of people with diabetes within inner city Bradford, 90 per cent have Type Two diabetes.

Health Minister David Lammy said: "With the number of people living with diabetes increasing every year, it is important that people at risk of developing the disease are identified before they develop the symptoms and suffer a poor quality of life.

"Everyone at risk must have the opportunity to make lifestyle changes, such as losing weight and increasing physical activity, to delay or prevent the onset of both diabetes and heart disease."

He added: "There is strong evidence that by helping people manage their care in partnership with clinicians, and supported by good information, life expectancy can be increased, illness and disability reduced and inequalities tackled."

The other pilot areas are Liverpool, Leicester, Haringey, Portsmouth, Coventry, Bristol, Luton and Sunderland.

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