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Dr Suzanne Moffatt


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Be Part of Research - Trial Details - Impact of a community based social prescribing intervention on people with type 2 diabetes in an ethnically diverse area of high socio-economic deprivation. Exploiting a natural experiment to evaluate effects on health and health care utilisation with economic assessment and ethnographic observation
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Impact of a community based social prescribing intervention on people with type 2 diabetes in an ethnically diverse area of high socio-economic deprivation. Exploiting a natural experiment to evaluate effects on health and health care utilisation with economic assessment and ethnographic observation

Not Recruiting

Open to: All Genders

Age: Adult

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Medical Conditions

Type 2 diabetes

This information is provided directly by researchers, and we recognise that it isn't always easy to understand. We are working with researchers to improve the accessibility of this information. In some summaries, you may come across links to external websites. These websites will have more information to help you better understand the study.


The number of people in the UK with type 2 diabetes (T2D) is expected to rise to six million by 2035. Poor diabetes control uses a great deal of NHS resources and can have severe impacts. It is important that people with T2D are given proper help. If no changes are made to the way T2D is treated, the costs to the NHS are estimated to be about £17 billion by 2035. It is very difficult for busy health professionals to provide the full range of support that is necessary. Health programmes that involve individuals and communities more directly in the management of their own health conditions and support them to adopt healthier behaviours can improve health and reduce NHS costs. Social prescribing is a form of support for people with long-term conditions like T2D. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of a new programme that has been developed over eight years by local health and voluntary sector organisations with input from patients and the public. It involves referral to a trained ‘Link Worker’ who supports and empowers people with T2D to make healthier lifestyle choices, to improve their health, self-care and quality of life. People can access the programme through their GP surgery. On referral, the Link Worker will discuss healthier lifestyle options with each person individually and help them to plan positive health behaviour changes. Link Workers will also provide information about other community services, such as, walking groups, welfare rights or employment advice and support people to attend. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of the programme, how much it costs, and how it affects other family members and the wider community.

Start dates may differ between countries and research sites. The research team are responsible for keeping the information up-to-date.  

The recruitment start and end dates are as follows:

01 Apr 2015 31 Mar 2020

Publications

2019 Protocol article in https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2018-026826 protocol (added 28/07/2020)2023 Results article in https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37254700/ results (added 31/05/2023)

Information is collected from GP records on 1,600 people who received the intervention and it is compared in three ways: (i) with people at GP practices which don’t have the intervention; (ii) with people from the same practice who are eligible but don’t take up the intervention, and (iii) people who entered the programme at the beginning with people who entered it later. The costs and effectiveness of the programme are compared to existing treatment to see whether the intervention is value for money compared to other treatments. Observations and interviews with people using the service are used to find out how they experience it, in order to find out what works, why it works and what does not work and why. During the study, a group of service users and Link Workers advises researchers on involving people with the study, participant information, what the findings mean and producing user-friendly information about the study. The results of the study will help decide whether this type of programme should be funded in the future.


Patients aged 40 to 74 with one or more long-term health conditions, including type 2 diabetes, living in an urban area of high socio-economic deprivation

You can take part if:



You may not be able to take part if:


1. People with end stage disease2. The effectiveness analysis relies on routinely collected primary care data. people who have opted out of the use of their primary care data for research purposes will be identified by GP practices and their data will not be included in the study


Below are the locations for where you can take part in the trial. Please note that not all sites may be open.

  • Newcastle University
    NE1 4LP

The benefits and risks of taking part in the intervention are entirely separate from any benefits or risks from taking part in the evaluation. The effectiveness evaluation relies on analyses of routinely collected primary care data. As these data are supplied to the research team in anonymised form and stored in accordance with NHS compliant information governance procedures no risks are expected. The benefits of the evaluation will be the effect on future service provision rather than any specific benefit to current participants. Those people who have opted out of use of their health service data for the purpose of research will be identified through usual primary care procedures and their data will not be used as part of this evaluation.

Dr Suzanne Moffatt



The study is sponsored by Newcastle University and funded by National Institute for Health Research.




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Read full details for Trial ID: ISRCTN13880272
Last updated 31 May 2023

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