This December, Health Exchange will be inviting leading figures from the medical, public and voluntary sectors to get together and discuss approaches to tackling Type 2 diabetes in the West Midlands.

The Conversation about Diabetes event, which will be held on the 10^th December at The Studio in Birmingham city centre, seeks to find out more about what is already being done and prompt debate on how different organisations and individuals from within the West Midlands can play their role in the collective fightback against this growing health challenge.

Health Exchange has been working for over X years on a variety of projects and programmes aimed at managing diabetes and is currently delivering the Vanguard pre-diabetes programme to patients from 27 surgeries in Birmingham. This comprehensive 9 month trial, supported by Birmingham South Central Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), is one of just five demonstrator sites in the UK.

The prevalence of diabetes in the West Midlands has grown significantly in recent years, with the average adult prevalence rate being well over a percentage point higher than the national average. More startlingly, perhaps, is that by 2030 levels of diabetes in the West Midlands are expected to rise to 10% of the adult population, compared with 8.8% for England as a whole.

The Conversation about Diabetes event will involve speakers who are looking at diabetes from different perspectives, including the keynote speaker for the Conversation About Diabetes event will be Janice L Thompson, Professor of Public Health Nutrition and Exercise at the University of Birmingham, who will be discussing her work with Health Exchange in conducting randomised trials to assess community-based diabetes prevention programmes.

Also speaking will be Dr Richard Mendelsohn, Head of Clinical Commissioning for the Birmingham South Central CCG, who will talk about the clinical context for diabetes prevention and the Vanguard programme. Leon Sewell, the lead for the Living Well Taking Control programme at Health Exchange, will discuss the work of him and his team in tackling diabetes in local communities. The main objective of the event, however, is to get people talking to each other, and exchanging insights and ideas.

If you feel that your passion, innovation or expertise could help shape how we as a community fight back against diabetes then we want to hear from you. Delegates will be given the opportunity to pose questions to the panel as well as put forward their own visions for the future.

Click here to view our event invitation. If you would like to attend the event please contact Thomas Bray on Thomas.Bray@healthexchange.org.uk.

This Diabetes Prevention event is the first in a series of three events focusing on different aspects of health and wellbeing.