Lives being lost through poor diabetes care in England

According to Diabetes UK, avoidable deaths, record rates of complications and high costs to the NHS are being caused by poor diabetes care in England.

The charity warns that current care systems are not endeavouring to get on top of the problem.

Although a tenth of the NHS budget is spent on diabetes, the majority goes on managing complications and not preventing them.

Diabetes, the fastest growing health threat of our times, is a chronic condition and can lead to harmful complications, including amputations, kidney failure, stroke, blindness and early death.

Although best-practice guidelines say that patients should receive regular checks to make sure their condition is being controlled well enough to avoid future complications, official audits of NHS care in England show that many patients are not receiving these checks.

According to Diabetes UK, there has been minimal improvement in provision for patients in the last 12 months and in some areas, care has got worse, for example fewer people with type 1 diabetes receiving annual check-ups. Young patients are receiving fewer checks than older patients and there is a wide variation depending on where in England the patient lives.

Diabetes UK chief executive Barbara Young, said “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.

“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. We want to work with local authorities to be able to help them put good practice into place.”

Public Health England’s Professor Kevin Fenton, said “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.

“We need to help people take early action to reduce their risk of developing this serious condition.”

It is estimated that diabetes is currently costing the UK £23.7bn. With the condition becoming more common, the figure is anticipated to grow to £40bn by 2035-36.

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Posted by Karen Motley, Paralegal, Clinical Negligence Department, Chadwick Lawrence LLP (karenmotley@chadlaw.co.uk ), Medical negligence lawyers and clinical negligence solicitors in Huddersfield, Leeds, Wakefield and Halifax, West Yorkshire.

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