UK launches smartphone test for type 2 diabetes in world-first
NHS trusts in Cumbria and North East England have launched what is claimed to be the world’s first smartphone test for type 2 diabetes, cutting diagnosis time to under 10 minutes.
The Diabetes Health Check app shortens diagnosis from months to less than 10 minutes, with a nationwide rollout expected later this year.
The government has described the technology as a “potential game-changer” for diabetes care. Cambridge-based company PocDoc, which developed the app, said it could save the NHS billions.
PodDoc CEO Steve Roest said the app aligns with health secretary Wes Streeting’s 10-year plan for the NHS – focusing on early detection, prevention, and moving testing into community and home settings.
He said: “There’s an enormous gap in screening people for preventable diseases.
“The current system – not just in the UK, but globally – cannot find, risk assess, and diagnose enough people to make any dent in the fight against things like heart attacks, strokes, and type 2 diabetes.”
The app uses an HbA1c finger-prick blood test, considered the gold standard because it measures average blood glucose levels over the past two to three months.
This provides a broader picture than single daily blood sugar tests.
Health minister Stephen Kinnock told The i newspaper that the app was important because type 2 diabetes is rising across England.
He said: “This is a potential game-changer and exactly the type of technology we want to see in the NHS as part of the 10 Year Health Plan – bringing our health service firmly into the 21st century and care directly into people’s homes.
“We will make using the NHS as simple and convenient as online banking or shopping, while helping companies bring new technology into the health service more quickly.”
The app’s launch comes 24 hours after the government announced the biggest shake-up of diabetes care in a decade.
New guidance says around 750,000 patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) or early-onset diabetes could receive weight-loss drugs such as liraglutide or semaglutide earlier in treatment.
A pilot of the Diabetes Health Check is under way in North East England and North Cumbria, commissioned by Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria (HI NENC).
