Poor diabetes treatment resulting in avoidable deaths

By The Press Association14th January 2015News EnglandDiabetes, News England, NHS

The poor state of diabetes healthcare in England is leading to avoidable deaths, record rates of complications and huge costs to the NHS, according to a Diabetes UK report.

There has been very little overall improvement in diabetes healthcare in the past year, with 40% of people with diabetes still not getting the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence recommended checks that they need to manage their condition, the charity suggests in its annual State of the Nation report.

Worryingly, some aspects of care have got worse – such as the numbers of people with Type 1 diabetes receiving their annual checks. This has reduced from 43% to 41%.

Barbara Young, Diabetes UK chief executive, argues: “This is not a question of spending more money. In fact, better ongoing standards of care will save money and reduce pressure on NHS resources.”

Spending on diabetes accounts for about 10% of the entire NHS budget, but Diabetes UK estimates that about 80% of this money is being spent on treating complications – while not enough is being invested on the good healthcare that could prevent them.

Diabetes is a condition where there is too much glucose in the blood because the body cannot use it properly. If not managed well, both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes can lead to devastating complications. Diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in people of working age in the UK and is a major cause of lower limb amputation, kidney failure and stroke.

The report states that treatment targets for blood pressure, blood glucose and cholesterol are only being met for a third of people with diabetes. Across the country, nowhere is meeting all three targets well – the average is 36% and the best is 48%.

Diabetes UK also found that Type 1 diabetes sufferers, who can not produce insulin, are getting considerably worse routine care than other people with diabetes.

They are less likely to have their condition under control, with just 41% receiving eight of the annual checks recommended by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and 16% meeting the three recommended treatment targets.

Another example of poor care included in the report, is that only 12% of young people aged between 12 and 19 had all their annual care checks. Diabetes UK notes that one in four had worryingly high blood glucose levels.

Ms Young said: “It’s about people getting the checks they need at their GP surgery and giving people the support and education they need to be able to manage their own condition.

“Doing this, together with improving diabetes care in hospital, would give people with diabetes a better chance of a long and healthy life, and save the NHS a significant amount of money.”

The report also suggests that preventing Type 2 diabetes, where people do not produce enough insulin or the insulin they produce does not work properly, needs to be a greater priority to help reduce the burden of the condition on NHS resources in the future.

NHS England has announced that it is to launch a national Type 2 diabetes prevention programme in England with Diabetes UK.

The report calls for clinical commissioning groups (CCGs) to set themselves performance improvement targets and implement diabetes action plans.

Professor Kevin Fenton, national director of Health and Wellbeing at Public Health England, said: “Despite type 2 diabetes being largely preventable, one in 10 people will develop the disease by 2034 if current trends persist which will intensify pressures on the NHS.

“This is why we need to help people take early action to reduce their risk of developing this serious condition.

“The free NHS Health Check is already available for those aged 40 – 74 and PHE and NHS England are developing a nationwide type 2 diabetes prevention programme which will support those most at risk to make essential lifestyle changes – such as losing weight, improving their diet and being more active.”