Alarm over increase in cases of diabetes

Diabetes UK has called for action to ensure that every diabetic patient aged over 12 has access to annual retinal screening after new figures revealed that the number of people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK has doubled within the past 12 months.

The new figures published earlier this week showed that 167,700 people had been diagnosed with diabetes between 2007 and 2008 in comparison to 83,000 the year before.

In England the 6.4 per cent increase means the number of people diagnosed with diabetes has surpassed the 2 million mark for the first time. Scotland contributed the biggest rise (16.9 per cent) with the recorded diabetes population now standing at 200,669 compared to 171,513. The figures also revealed that there are now 5 million people registered obese in the UK compared to almost 4.8 million last year.