25.04.12
Diabetes complication costs ‘avoidable’
Diabetes will cost the NHS almost £17bn by 2035, a new report has predicted. The disease and its complications currently account for 10% of NHS spending, or £9.8bn, and this is projected to rise to 17%, or £16.9bn, of total healthcare funds over the next 25 years.
The Impact Diabetes report suggests that up to four fifths of the cost of treating complications could be avoided through investment in better preventative measures and management of the condition.
Indirect cost to individuals with diabetes includes the increased costs around early death, loss of income from having to stop work or the need for informal care. This totals £23.7bn in addition to direct patient care from the NHS.
There are around 3.8 million people living with diabetes in theUKand this is expected to increase to 6.25 million in just over two decades.
The report was produced by researchers at the York Health Economic Consortium, in partnership with charities DiabetesUK, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and drugs company Sanofi Diabetes.
Barbara Young, chief executive of DiabetesUK, 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.
“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 spokesperson 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.”