Diabetes services fall short of expectations

A major report into the management of adult diabetes services in the NHS by the National Audit Office (NAO) has concluded that there are 24,000 avoidable deaths each year and a poor performance against expected levels of care including diabetic screening.

The NAO stated that despite improvements since 2006-2007 diabetes services in England were not delivering value for money.

In 2009-10 there were an estimated 3.1 million adults with diabetes in England, a number that was expected to rise by 23 per cent to 3.8 million in 2020. The NAO also considered the £1.3bn spend estimated by the Department of Health for diabetes services in 2009-10 to be a substantial underestimate, adding that it was at least £3.9bn, or 4 per cent of the NHS budget.