More than 800,000 diabetes patients in the UK could be suffering from regular hypoglycaemic episodes, Novo Nordisk has warned.

A survey of 1,000 type 1 and 2 diabetes patients funded by the manufacturer found almost a third experienced hypoglycaemic events at least once a month, with 4.5 per cent suffering five or more every month.

One in every 10 patients surveyed said diabetes affected their quality of life "a lot of the time", and 17 per cent said they felt in control of their condition only "sometimes" or "rarely". Patients said they had relied predominantly on specialist nurses and GPs to find out about their condition, with charity websites and phone lines also proving popular. But pharmacists could also have a key role to play in helping diabetes patients to manage the condition, said Dilip Joshi, a pharmacist with a special interest in diabetes.

"It's not just screening [for diabetes], but it's also looking at managing that by speaking to patients and conducting clinical reviews, as well as titrating doses," explained Mr Joshi, contractor at Boss Pharmacy in Clapham, London. He added that pharmacists' involvement could reduce the number of diabetes-related hospital admissions: "Pharmacies offer choice and access, and patients say time and time again that it's much easier for them to come into a pharmacy. We just need sustainable funding to do that."

The NPA agreed that community pharmacists had a "central role" in caring for diabetes patients and said the new medicine service (NMS) could strengthen this.

Pharmacists could also be asked to screen all patients aged over 25 for type 2 diabetes in the future, under proposed guidelines published by Nice earlier this month. The plans suggest pharmacists and other health professionals should use a "validated risk-assessment tool" to identify at-risk adults.