business Unfortunately, according to the panel, under-diagnosis of pre-diabetes and type-II diabetes will continue to be a problem because it is largely the remit of the primary care physician who has neither the time to screen "at risk" patients or to administer a simple diagnostic test -- nor the funds to afford specialist diabetes nurses. But extra billions are being ploughed into the NHS -- investment was up from 33 billion in 1996/7 to 67.4 billion in 2004/5. There are now 22% more doctors and 21% more nurses and pharmacists. Nurses are taking over some of the responsibilities previously held by GPs to free them up to use their time more effectively. Moreover, the new GP contract provides financial incentives for identifying and treating diabetics. The question is, how can the additional funds be best employed to help identify these "at risk" patients and therefore enable physicians to practice prevention rather than cure? It is going to take some years to change the poor lifestyle habits of the "at risk" members of society. In the meantime, it is important to find undiagnosed type-II diabetics who already have raised blood glucose levels and are at significant risk of complications such as cardiovascular disease. In the neighbourhood This is a problem that has been addressed by TNS over the last few years working with leading pharmaceutical companies and academics. GeoMedics -- new tool developed by TNS -- identifies "at risk" populations across the UK as precisely as local authority ward level. It