UK & World News
- 25 April 2012, 9:37
Rising Diabetes Costs 'Could Bankrupt' NHS
The rising cost of treating diabetes could bankrupt the NHS as a report suggests the disease could take up a sixth of its entire budget by 2035.
The disease and its complications currently account for 10% (£9.8bn) of NHS spending.
But this is projected to rise to £16.9bn over the next 25 years, or 17% of the health service's funds.
Researchers at the York Health Economic Consortium also found that up to four-fifths of the cost of treating complications such as kidney failure, nerve damage, and amputation could be avoided by investing in better preventative measures and management of the condition.
The Impact Diabetes report - published in conjunction with charities Diabetes UK, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Sanofi Diabetes, also looked at the indirect costs to individuals living with the condition.
It found the total associated with these extra burdens in addition to direct patient care in the UK stands at £23.7bn and is predicted to rise to £39.8bn by 2035/36.
There are around 3.8 million people living with diabetes in the UK and this is expected to increase to 6.25 million in just over two decades.
Barbara Young, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: "This report shows that without urgent action, the already huge sums of money being spent on treating diabetes will rise to unsustainable levels that threaten to bankrupt the NHS.
"But the most shocking part of this report is the finding that almost four-fifths of NHS diabetes spending goes on treating complications that in many cases could have been prevented.
"The failure to do more to prevent these complications is both a tragedy for the people involved and a damning indictment of the failure to implement the clear and recommended solutions.
"Unless the Government and the NHS start to show real leadership on this issue, this unfolding public health disaster will only get worse."
A Department of Health spokeswoman said: "We agree that diabetes is a very serious illness and one that has a big impact on the NHS.
"That's why we are tackling the disease on three fronts.
"First, through prevention of Type 2 diabetes - encouraging people to eat well and be more active. Second, by helping people to manage their diabetes through the nine annual health care checks performed in primary care. And by better management of the condition in hospital."
what do you think?
Mike Eaton
Another health scare? probably, or is it an excuse to get more fund ing from an already overtaxed population / thats more like it! Note as most of these things it starts "could" not definate but it might - also getting run over by a bus could kill you! (The censorship gets sillier - fund ing is the word for today without the gap)
chris
We are all doomed.....doomed!
Neil Servis
Diabetes, obesity...blame that culture, try the drug addicts, the alcoholics, the suicidal, the idiots who fight then abuse staff in hospitals, there should be seperate places for the thugs to get treated...ie a field
MichaelStinton
Idiot!
Bernard Petrie
Diabetes is usually caused by to much sugar. Now how did so much sugar get into our diets? It seems to me food manufacturers have a part in it. And the supermarkets who market the high sugar content foods. As people probably realise we usually have little alternative than to buy what supermarkets wan to sell us. The organic sugar free food is not to a modern taste after perhaps years of eating the high sugar content foods sold in our supermarkets. Also sugar free foods usually cost a lot more. The diabetes problem needs looking at from many angles. It seems silly to assume food processors are going to change if people will not buy sugar free foods, they want to make a living so will sell what the customer asks for.
Adrian Wagstaff
I think we need to consider the possibility that every human being on Earth has mad cow disease, bovine spongiform encephalopathy and it is causing practically every modern illness due to altering the genetic structure of body cells. Some people, of course, suggest I'm too stupid to actually understand anything.
Val Bonney
Of course this issue needs to be addressed, but please stop assuming that Type 2 diabetes is preventable ... my husband never had a sweet tooth, was always reasonably active, yet developed it in his 30s. Can't think why ... oh wait, yeah, his Mum had it too!! Please check ALL possible causes before handing out your damning judgments, people ... thanks!
Tony Page
As someone aged 69 with Type 2 diabetes who lives in Wales and attends four circuit training sessions per week, three two hour gym sessions, two pilates sessions and cycles often I would suggest that those people commenting below would have done themselves a favour and appeared less clueless if they had bothered to do a little bit of research BEFORE posting their ill-informed rants.
Paul Hayes
Someone with Type 2 diabetes who modifies their diet and exercises regularly like yourself should have their efforts rewarded with free gym membership etc. Those that choose not to modify their diets, and refuse to exercise should have to pay for everything, including their prescriptions. Sadly, your can do attitude is the minority in this country. The majority refuse to take the advice because they know ultimately the cost will be met by others. People just don't have any willpower or self control anymore.
Diane Wood
Well as a diabetic this makes me feel just great. Don't class as all as lazy fat greedy people who don't care if we get ill. Let's first clear up misleading impressions that are often given out by the mediia. There are two types, Type 1 which you normally get as a child which is due to genes/stress/illness which is treated by insulin and has NOTHING to do with eating too much sugar. Type 2 is the type which you get in later life, yes more often than not due to obesity and is treated by tablets or diet alone. As a type 1 myself, I need insulin daily, i need to test my blood sugar, otherwise I will get complications. If you look after yourself, complications are unlikely, but CAN occur sometimes even if you do, such as eye damage, nerve failure, kidney problems. I wish I didn't have it, I wish I didn't cost the NHS so much money, but I have and I would like to survive please.
Val Bonney
My husband's Type 2 diabetes also requires him to inject insulin daily (several times) and to test his blood sugar, as well as taking a lot of associated medication and having regular doc/nurse visits, eye tests, etc. He is VERY good about keeping a low-fat, low-sugar diet and his job means he has to walk a lot every day. Please stop making these assumptions about Type 2. Thank you.
Paul Hayes
That TV show Big Body Squad left me feeling so angry. Some of the people had medical conditions that were completely out of their control and actually caused their weight problems. I had total sympathy for them. The rest had medical problems caused by the excess weight they had put on following years of over-eating. For them I was less sympathetic. You had people there who were so big they couldn't move without the help of a team of people, yet they continued to consume huge quantities of food. They were incapable of going to the shops or even walking to the kitchen to prepare the food themselves, so someone else (usually a family member or home help) was exacerbating the situation by giving them the wrong food and always in excessive quantities. If the person in the bed had been an animal we'd have accused the family/home help of cruelty! Everyone needs to take responsibility for this situation. The individual, the parent who feeds their children rubbish, the supermarkets who push cheap unhealthy food, the manufacturers of food, the State that pays for everything (drugs, hoists, bigger beds, bigger chairs, bigger ambulances, free housing, free mobility scooters etc etc). We simply cannot afford to continue with this situation!!! As someone who developed Type 2 diabetes and managed to control it through exercise and diet modification, it angers me to see morbidly obese people continuing to buy high sugar, high fat foods in the supermarket. The help and advice I received is available to all of them, they simply make the choice to ignore it and let someone else deal with the cost. What ever happened to personal responsibility?
dave
As an occasional smoker, that eats healthy and jogs / exercises regularly. All of a sudden I am a social leper made to feel dirty and seedy. That is, if I can afford one or find somewhere to hide away. Therefore, if I am controlled and priced out of my little vice by the government. Why don't they make problem foods too expensive purchase and control what we eat as well? Roll on stepford nation.
Roy Fox
stick 20% tax on sugar i have had diabetes for nearly 10 years type 2 and have never taken sugar in tea or coffee for as long as i can remember it;s only habit ,iv;e never asked for free treatment but i payed my insurance for fifty years
ABritMum
Instead of investing in so many new medicines to treat diabetes why don't our experts look at the causes. Diabetes and Autism are on the rise and are both linked to vaccines....
aa aa
7:03am on 25/4/2012
People with diabetes get free prescriptions, for any illness they have.That's got to be a fair amount of money we are subsidising.Now , why should i have to pay, when the people using this service the most, don't pay anything. Oh, and Wales don't pay anything, so what's that all about?It's about time we were all on the same deal. We all pay, or we all don't pay.
Julie Doughty
7:52am on 25/4/2012
Do you have somebody close to you with type one diabetes??? If you havnt dont pass judgement!! My fiance has and its an awful illness. He cant help it, he didnt ask for it. Lots of things he can claim for but chooses NOT to. Type 2 diabetics on the other hand could of helped themselves, the majority anyhow.
Julie Doughty
8:00am on 25/4/2012
Also, I would gladly give extra out of my wages to help diabetics, if it meant it goes towards a cure for such a dibilitating illness!!
Anthony Oates
9:25am on 25/4/2012
Muppet!!!
Mikel roi
9:44am on 25/4/2012
Well aa aa I just hope that you never go down with the desease and face the potential problems! My wife is type 2 (which is just as dangerous as type 1) and has thankfully so far been able to contain it with dieting and regular exercise. She was not overwieight and has not eaten sugar for some 45 years when she was expecting and the GP suggested she cut back on some foods including sugar. Her condition is due to a genetic strain in her family - not poor diet and lack of exercise. I am happier contributing toward the lifetime prescription costs for people with life threatening illnesses than to pay for all the stupid political correctness, Quango's, care of millions of social misfits and mollycoddelling the prison population. We're all in this together. eh?