Perfect policy on diabetes
SHE’S our second female Prime Minister, but Theresa May could also be (at least, according to my own limited Googling) the first world leader to have type 1 diabetes. She’s certainly the first, it seems, to be so public about it, having revealed her condition to this newspaper in 2013. She later said: ‘I would like the message to get across that diabetes doesn’t change what you can do. ‘The more people can see that people with diabetes can lead a normal life doing the sort of things that other people do, the easier it is for those who are diagnosed with it to deal with it.’ So true! In type 1 diabetes the pancreas – a gland near the stomach – stops working, no longer producing insulin, the hormone that controls how the body processes sugars. Regular injections of synthetic insulin are essential, along with blood sugar testing and a healthy diet and lifestyle. But any suggestion that her condition might somehow impair her ability is ludicrous. Yes, it’s serious, but diabetes doesn’t change what you can do, whether that’s becoming Prime Minister, a doctor, teacher or anything else.
NHS ENGLAND caused uproar last week with news that patients who have not attended their GP for five years will be struck off the list. There was concern that patients could be left vulnerable without a doctor. I think this is unlikely: GP surgeries will have to write twice to a patient before removing him or her from the register, and it will always be possible to reregister. Practices are paid a tariff per patient on their list. What should really cause uproar is surgeries being paid to look after patients who have moved abroad or died – or who don’t exist. This is a valuable cost-saving measure and the scare-mongering is unwarranted.
DESPITE this week’s heatwave, the UK is chronically short of sunshine for most of the year. The lack of sun exposure, combined with our indoor lifestyles and regular use of SPF cream, means that Vitamin D deficiency is now a common problem. Diagnosing Vitamin D deficiency in those with aches and pains, or tiredness, has become very usual in my clinic. New recommendations based on research from the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition are set to change this. All adults in the UK are now advised to take 400iu of Vitamin D daily throughout the year. With mounting evidence that Vitamin D can also guard against cancer, this seems like sound advice, and I’ll be following it.
THREE years ago I was involved in a campaign to find a stem-cell donor for Sharon Berger, a Jewish mother-of-two from Kenton in North London, who suffers from leukaemia. The #Spit4Mum campaign run by her children gained a match for Sharon and boosted sign-up from the community by more than 1,700 per cent. Devastatingly, Sharon, who has helped so many, has now relapsed and needs another transplant and an even better donor match. To become a stem-cell or organ donor, visit anthonynolan.org.