Diabetes prevention is needed to check costs

A new report in Diabetic Medicine has projected that the NHS annual UK spend on diabetes will rise from £9.6bn to £16.9bn over the next 25 years.

The Impact Diabetes report pointed out that this would lead to the NHS spending 17 per cent of its entire budget on the condition and added that the cost of treating diabetes complications could rise from £7.7bn to £13.5bn by 2035/6.

With 79 per cent of NHS diabetes spend going on complications, it said a less expensive approach would be to invest in checks and services to manage the condition and reduce the risk of complications.