Diabetes Awareness Week (9 – 15 June 2025) is a national campaign led by Diabetes UK to raise awareness and shine a light on what it’s really like to live with diabetes every day. It’s a time to come together, make some noise, and talk about the things that matter to people living with diabetes.
This year, the focus is on the health checks you need when you have diabetes. Life with diabetes can often feel like a never-ending series of numbers, checks, and tests. You might feel fine and wonder if you really need another health check. Or maybe you’re unsure about what checks you should be having.
But these regular diabetes health checks are vital for spotting any problems early, keeping you healthy, and helping you continue to live your life to the fullest. Diabetes can cause other health issues that might become serious if not picked up and treated early, which is why your yearly or annual diabetes health check is such an important part of your NHS care.
For more information, visit Diabetes UK: www.diabetes.org.uk.
What should you do?
When your diabetes health check is due, your GP practice will contact you. If you think you’re overdue, please get in touch with your GP surgery to book an appointment.
How Pennine GP Alliance Supports Practices and Patients
While Diabetes Awareness Week is led nationally by Diabetes UK, at Pennine GP Alliance we work locally to support GP practices and their patients in managing diabetes. Here’s how we help:
✅ Identify and Share Patient Values
We identify where patient health values fall outside of national target ranges and share this with practice clinicians to support the Quality and Outcomes Framework (QOF).
✅ Spot Check Data Entries
We spot check practice data entries to ensure the correct QOF codes are used for diabetes care.
✅ Non-Clinical Staff Training
We deliver diabetes care process awareness training for non-clinical staff, so they can help engage and support patients more effectively.
✅ Support with Non-Attendance
We work with practices to investigate why some patients miss appointments and help find ways to overcome these barriers, including phoning patients on their behalf.
✅ Patient Confidence and Self-Management
We work with practices to help patients feel more confident in managing their diabetes and signpost to further help and support when needed.
✅ Practical Support
We provide practical help to support key diabetes checks – for example, by providing labelled urine sample bottles, ACR form and diabetic screening leaflet to increase uptake of urine albumin checks.
✅ Working with Other NHS Services
We liaise with the NHS Retinal Screening Programme and local podiatry services to improve pathways of care for patients with diabetes, supporting practices to provide the best care possible.
Diabetes Awareness Week is a great time to check in on your diabetes care and make sure you’re getting the health checks you need. If you’re due or overdue for your diabetes health check, please contact your GP surgery today. Let’s work together to keep you well!
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