EALING Southall MP, Virendra Sharma, has hosted a virtual session on diabetes with expert speakers from Diabetes UK and the West London NHS Trust Ealing Partners.

He also visited a local Lloyds Pharmacy to raise awareness of the risks associated with type 2 diabetes.

The guest speakers spoke about the importance of getting an early diabetes diagnosis and understanding the risk factors which can help reduce the likelihood of complications and enable people to take steps towards maintaining good health.

They stressed the prevalence of diabetes in Ealing and the need to work collaboratively to increase awareness of the multidisciplinary nature of the disease.

Speaking during the session Mai Seida, Support Officer at Diabetes UK said: "The number of people diagnosed with diabetes has more than doubled in 20 years.

"The NHS spends at least £10 billion a year on diabetes.

"That's 10% of its entire budget.

"By 2030, we think more than 5.5 million people will have diabetes in the UK."

The Labour MP said: "My constituency of Ealing Southall is one of the most ethnically diverse constituencies in the country and it is estimated that our area has more than 23,000 people with diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes.

"I know that it is crucial to raise awareness of the higher risk of type 2 diabetes in ethnic minority communities and also, of the disastrous consequences that type 2 diabetes can have if left undiagnosed and untreated."

Grace Vanterpool MBE, Nurse Consultant from Ealing Partners, West London NHS trust said: "We have approximately 5,000 patients with diabetes who don't know that they have got it so it is a really big task to find those people along with the GPs.

"No two diabetic patients are the same, so we provide individual care to every diabetic patient.

"We encourage family and friends to get involved because diabetes is not only the individual's problem but affects family and the community as well.

"We have a very mixed community within Ealing with high ethnicity.

"We try to help and support everyone to live a long and healthy life.

"We run educational courses for type 1 diabetes which are now localised and we have now expanded on the national programme by including foot management, psychological care and patients to involve their family and friends."