On Wednesday 15th October 2014, as part of Diwali at Westminster, Tim Loughton MP took the quick and easy diabetes test to help raise awareness of the need for public to take the test of the condition. Special guest Hugh Quarshie who plays Dr. Ric Griffin in BBC’s Holby City, joined in the efforts to highlight the problem of diabetes, and handed Tim Loughton MP with a pedometer.
As part of the challenge, MPs were issued with a Silver Star Diabetes Pedometer that will measure the amount of steps taken on a chosen day until World Diabetes Day on 14th November 2014 to see who can take the most steps.
Matthew Hancock MP, Minister of State at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills is the current holder of the health Challenge.
Every four minutes someone in the UK is diagnosed with diabetes and consequently, the NHS spends £1 million an hour on diabetes and its related complications. Currently 3.2 million people in the UK people live with the condition, and an estimated 1 million people may have diabetes without knowing it.
Silver Star Diabetes is a national charity which seeks to raise awareness of diabetes through advocacy and delivering free diabetes testing and lifestyle advice to the general public. The Charity runs Mobile Diabetes Units (MDU's). The MDUs travel out into the community, to places of work, worship, community events, High Street and retail parks testing the public for free for diabetes and offering lifestyle advice. During these visits its staff has discovered thousands of people who have a propensity for diabetes who did not know about it. The event was supported by Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Icare