Diabetes is a life-long condition affecting the way a person's body manages glucose (sugar) levels in the blood. It can cause abnormally high blood glucose levels which can have serious consequences.

Put simply, sugar comes from the food you eat and the body will break this down to glucose. A hormone called insulin is made in an organ called the pancreas and this plays a vital role to transport the glucose to the cells in the body and will turn it in to energy. Sometimes, the body will not make enough insulin or any at all or thew glucose produced will not be effective. This means the glucose is not removed from the blood - this is where diabetes occurs.

There are two main types of diabetes, types 1 and 2 both affecting the body differently if left untreated.  The profiles below will explore the difference between both:

Please note this module will be exploring Type 2 Diabetes only due to the screening service being aimed at identifying people who may have undiagnosed type 2 diabetes.