There are more than 1.75 million people with type 2 diabetes in the UK, and the number of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes is set to rise dramatically over the next decade. The UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) provided evidence to support early active treatment of type 2 diabetes in order to reduce the risk of future complications (UKPDS Group, 1998). This article assesses the feasibility of screening for type 2 diabetes at the GP practice level.

Standard 2 of the National Service Framework (NSF) for diabetes (Department of Health [DoH], 2001) relates to the development and implementation of strategies to identify people with diabetes. The aim is to ensure that people with diabetes are identified as early as possible. Moreover, the NSF concludes that population-wide screening would not be cost-effective, and instead recommends screening sub-groups with multiple risk factors. Diabetes UK also supports the introduction of a screening programme, recommending systematic and opportunistic screening of people with two or more risk factors every 3 years (Diabetes UK, 2002).

It would seem to be a sensible step forward, then, to actively screen for diabetes, but how practical is this in primary care? The National Screening Committee (http://www.nsc.nhs.uk/[accessed 23.09.2005]) has been asked to research the feasibility of a screening programme and is due to report later this year.