Surgery have me down as having risk of T2 diabetes.....pretty sure I don't!

[limescale]

I just had a call from my surgery, asking me to collect a blood test form as I'm at risk of diabetes.
My eyes fell out of my head.
Apparently a blood test showed increased risk back in 2017.
This is the first I have heard of it.

Here is my 'risk'
I have no family history.
I am of Indian descent which slightly increases my risk.
I am towards the lower end of the healthy weight range.
I do a lot of exercise.
I have low BP, OK cholesterol, never had GD.
I have a good diet.

Anyway, I've arranged a phone appt with the GP to clarify. I don't think I need the blood test (I've had many regular blood tests since 2017 and nothing has been flagged up), but I do want the flag removed so that it doesn't look like I'm not engaging with health professionals.

you say you had a blood test that showed you are in the at risk for type 2 diabetes category. That is your risk, not the other stuff, the blood test result.

I imagine your HbA1c level was in the pre-diabetes range. Good practice is to check this annually to ensure they pick up a flip into diabetes early. Of course, the ideal would be that the diabetes is avoided.

You can decline this screening if you prefer, but I would be interested to know your rationale?

I have not been called back annually (or at all) to check for T2 diabetes, this phone call, some 8 years after the 2017 test is the first I have heard about my (apparent) increased risk.

I have had many routine, complete blood tests since 2017 and none have raised the T2 flag.

I am not declining the screening, I am talking to my GP to find out if she really thinks I am at increased risk of it. Then I will make a decision. Obviously if she thinks I need testing then I will do so.

"I just had a call from my surgery, asking me to collect a blood test form as I'm at risk of diabetes."
There seems to be a big push on pre-diabetes (= 'at risk') in the NHS just now, I wonder if there was some sort of automated trawl through the records and it found your 2017 results hadn't been addressed. Your blood tests since then may not have included the HbA1c test for pre-diabetes.

I did a blood test recently and have now been referred to a pre-diabetes programme. I've attended several sessions now, and out of about 20 people on the programme two look to me to not be obviously 'at risk' - 30ish, slim etc. But here they are, because their HbA1c blood test was 42 - 47.

Is there a problem about taking a blood test? Difficulty getting to the surgery etc?

Phone and ask them. They are as capable of making a mistake as anyone else.

Last time I was discharged from hospital, my discharge form listed a co-morbidity of epilepsy. I've never had epilepsy in my life.

I have to get written statements from both my GP and the head of the hospital department confirming that their records were wrong and I do not have and have never had epilepsy.

The database was updated but you never know when they might need to restore from an incorrect backup, and that sort of error could impact my driving licence, my custody of my child etc.

Phone them and query it.

Just have the blood test does it matter. If you are at least you know if your not then nothing to worry about and you can just carry on with your life

This is exactly what I've done. My OP says "Anyway, I've arranged a phone appt with the GP to clarify."

I'm just baffled, that's all.

Just go and get it done. A health MOT is always a good thing and lots of us would like the chance but unable to get appointments. If you get it done it will put your mind at rest and will take seconds

My score was 42 - I have a BMI of 19, run ultra marathons several times a year and eat a super healthy diet and no alcohol. Can happen to the best of us. I have a parent with type 2 so it can be hereditary.
go and get it checked!

I've just had a test come up as 42, and referred to diabetes prevention, which I have declined. But I will make an effort to lose some weight and do some weights. Being menopausal is a big trigger. If the next test is high again, I will request a proper fasting test.

I will talk to the GP first.
Of course I'm grateful to have health care, but actually, if I don't need the test then the resources are better used elsewhere.
It's not insignificant getting the blood test. I have a 30 min round trip drive to collect the blood form, then make the appt online (our surgery doesn't do blood tests), 1hr round to get the test done.
I have had a full blood test done less than a year ago (low iron when donating blood, advised to get blood test, GP advised full count as I hadn't had one done for a couple of years).
There is no family history.

As a pp has said, blood tests only answer the question that’s asked - there’s no such thing as a ‘full blood test’. There’s a ‘full blood count’ which counts the blood cells, but will not detect diabetes - for that, a specific test called the HBA1C is requested.

What a waste of a gp appointment

I have also been told I'm pre diabetic as has my brother in law. I was sent an app to monitor my eating habits.

Ah right. Thanks.
I don't recall having the HBA1C test in 2017, nor why it would have been requested. I was never told the result showed increased risk of T2D and I have not been invited to be retested a single time since then (until today).

My NHS app records don't go back that far as I had to change GPs in 2019 when our local one closed down. I will get them added at some point, but at the moment I can't check (and haven't needed or wanted to).

I'll see what the GP says.

It will be a short phone appointment, which I think will use fewer NHS resources than a blood test. I could be wrong.

It doesn't sound like you've had an HBA1C since 2017. I'm not at all sure why it's a 30 minute drive to get the form AND another drive to get the blood test. DH has regular blood tests as a result of his diabetes and he gets a form from the GP (does anyone in England live 30 mins drive from their GP?) and then to the general hospital because that's the closest for us to get the blood test. However, there are other places to get blood tests that aren't the hospital in your area.

My mum had a hospital letter saying she had heart failure. She didn't it was an error.

I cannot book the blood test online until I have the blood test request form in my hand. That is a 30 min round trip (15 mins each way).
I then book the blood test - usually for the following week - the earliest appointments. The community health centre is a 30 min drive away, which is the nearest place for me to get the test. We live on a county border which sometimes means the nearest facility is not available to use (different county).
Maybe if I needed regular blood tests I'd work something out.

It wont and you will still end up having the blood test. Messages can be passed through reception you dont need a gp appointment for basically an admin question

They can probably post you the blood test form. There shouldn’t be any reason why you have to pick it up.

Back when I was working in a community diabetes service we would hold occasional screening meetings with GP practices. Part of those meetings were often to ask the surgery to pull information regarding patients who fit certain criteria so we could discuss screening, if targets were correct/being met etc. I wonder if this may be the case here, especially as you say you had the test in question at a different gp surgery.

Are you over 40? Do your surgery have any record of your weight? If they haven’t weighed you in some time (or at all if y you haven’t been registered there all that long), you are over 40, are of Indian descent and haven’t had a recent HbA1c, with a slightly elevated one in the past then that should trigger a proactive blood test.

Personally I’m happy to have as many tests as I’m offered, as it’s always good to know what’s going on.

The receptionist said I would need to discuss with a GP. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to question why a test has been ordered.

They don’t post them, I have asked this before.

You know why to see if you have type 2 diabetes or not what more needs to be said

That doesn’t seem unreasonable. Thanks for shedding light on how this test might have been flagged up.
I am 54. They have my weight.