HUNDREDS of Oxfordshire residents are to get free advice on how to avoid dangerous Type 2 diabetes.

More than 28,000 patients in the county suffer from the disease and the number is growing by about 1,000 each year.

Now county doctors are launching a programme to identify patients at risk of developing the condition and help them avoid it.

Eynsham GP Amar Latif, who is leading the project for Oxfordshire Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG), said it was important more resources and money were pumped into prevention projects like this.

He said: "There is an epidemic across the county and this is down to people's poor diet and lifestyle choices.

"More people than ever are suffering from the disease, but Type 2 diabetes is largely preventable.

"It is really important that we are rolling out programmes like this because of course it is going to save the NHS money in the long run.

"There will not be as many people having to go for check-ups or having to have insulin, which obviously all adds up."

Patients at risk of developing the disease will receive a letter from their GP practice over the next few months inviting them to join the new scheme.

When referred onto the programme, they will get free personalised advice and support to help prevent them from developing the disease.

They will be advised and educated on healthy eating and lifestyle choices, and encouraged to reduce their weight through bespoke physical exercise programmes and food portion control, which together have been proven to reduce risk.

Dr Latif added: "This will not be easy for patients who are referred onto this programme because it is a big adjustment to completely overhaul your lifestyle.

"But we need to focus our energy on patients who are at risk so we can even prevent them developing it entirely or delay it.

"We think there are about 700 patients in the county who are currently at risk.

"This is a really great opportunity for us to tackle a really important health issue."

The NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme (NDPP) has been developed by NHS England, Public Health England and Diabetes UK.

It was officially launched last year with the first wave made up of 27 areas covering 26 million people.

National figures show that just under 50,000 people were referred in wave one and more than 18,000 people were on the programme at the end of April 2017.

Oxfordshire is part of the programmes' second wave, in which the NDPP expects to offer up to 50,000 more places on the programme across the country.