NHS England has committed to rolling out NHS health checks and providing incentives for better management of diabetes in a drive to improve early diagnosis and treatment.

The commissioning body would work with Public Health England (PHE) to deliver NHS health checks, according to its Action for Diabetes report, published this week.

Over the next few years it would incentivise the "active management" of risk factors identified during the checks, "wherever they took place", it said. It did not provide details about what the incentives would be.

Health checks were part of "crucial" efforts to enable the early diagnosis of diabetes to save lives and prevent avoidable complications, NHS England said.	More on NHS health checks Councils must take note of pharmacy for NHS health checks Decommissioning: what's the problem with health checks? What's the future for NHS health checks?
	The health checks were part of "crucial" efforts to enable the early diagnosis of diabetes to save lives in type 1 patients and prevent avoidable complications in type 2, it said.

NHS England's commitment to NHS health checks comes despite debate over their benefits. Pharmacists have raised concerns about pharmacy performance and a lack of patient interest and Cochrane review, published in 2012, concluded that the checks did not reduce mortality or morbidity.

NHS health checks in pharmacies were still patchy, Pharmacy Voice chief executive Rob Darracott told C+D this week (January 13). But PHE was increasingly showing interest in pharmacy's value which could "only be a good thing," he said.  

The diabetes report, aimed at clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), called for the development of personalised patient action plans, continuing education for patients, improved obesity management and the safe use of insulin in community settings.

NHS England also said it was considering how pharmacists could provide diabetes services as part of its commissioning strategy for primary care. The Call to Action consultation, launched in December, is calling for pharmacists to share their views on their future strategy for the sector. 

There are 2.7 million people in England who have been diagnosed with diabetes, of whom about 10 per cent have type 1 diabetes, the report highlighted. The disease leads to 22,000 deaths each year and 42.5 million items were prescribed to treat diabetes in 2012/2013, it said.

The Action for Diabetes report came in response to a report by the Public Accounts Committee, published in 2012, which criticised the NHS for its lack of support for adults with diabetes.