Remission at scale: our take on the Diabetes UK Professional Conference 2019

The Healum team went to the Diabetes UK Professional Conference 2019 at the ACC Liverpool, which opened on Wednesday 6 March, to see and explore the latest innovations in diabetes care.

Prevention and remission at scale

Professor Jonathan Valabhji opened the conference with a plenary on prevention and remission at scale in type 2 diabetes, and the first day focused on managing and preventing type 2 diabetes.

The DiRECT study showed that almost half of people (46%) who had had type 2 diabetes for up to six years could achieve remission at 12 months by following a structured weight management programme. The ways to the 10 to 15 kg weight loss involved include a low-calorie diet, meal replacements and bariatric surgery.

The open question is how weight management providers can achieve this across a whole population, and sustain it over the long term.

Where Healum fits

The Healum platform is designed to support the methods used in the DiRECT study. It helps healthcare professionals deliver interventions based on the COM-B model of behaviour change, using goals, challenges and habits as digital interventions to reduce weight and sustain weight loss, with ongoing, long-term support through personalised care plans.

That means weight management and primary care providers can keep supporting participants after a 10 to 12 week programme, to help them sustain their weight loss.

Case studies

The conference also showcased case studies from academics and clinicians with long experience in diabetes management.

One similar project of ours is You & Type 2, an NHS test bed with the South East and South West London STPs on managing type 2 diabetes, due to finish in February 2020. The development of our type 2 diabetes self-management app was supported by the NIHR. Read the You & Type 2 case study.

Our vision for diabetes

Healum’s vision for diabetes is to put type 2 diabetes into remission with digital behavioural interventions provided by healthcare professionals. We want to share the collaborative tools we’ve designed for diabetes and weight management providers, so they can support their patients in an easy and engaging way.

Get in touch to see how we can help your organisation.