NHS ‘facing bankruptcy as cost of treating diabetics rockets’

The warning follows a study by experts in York which predicts £1 in every £6 spent by the health service in 2035 will be on the condition, mainly preventable complications including organ failure, blindness and amputation.

The report calls for more investment in checks and services that help the 3.8 million people who already suffer from the condition.

It predicts numbers of diabetics could reach 6.25m by 2035, increasing NHS annual spending on the illness to £16.9bn unless action is taken. The report by the York Health Economics Consortium says diabetes already costs the UK £23.7bn in treatment, increased deaths and illness and loss of work but this could rise to £39.8bn in a quarter of a century as more people develop the condition due to the obesity epidemic and an ageing population.

Less than a quarter of the costs relate to treatment and ongoing management of the condition, with the rest accounting for complications.

It said improvements in the way diabetes was treated leading to better control of the condition and fewer complications could have a significant impact on reducing costs.

Charities said the study, which was commissioned by pharmaceutical giant Sanofi, highlighted the urgent need to invest in delivering national care standards for people with diabetes and for more investment in research to improve medical understanding of the condition which is among the most common chronic illness in the country, currently accounting for around 10 per cent of NHS expenditure, according to the report.

Barbara Young, chief executive of Diabetes UK, 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.

“But the most shocking part of this report is the finding that almost four fifths of NHS diabetes spending goes on treating complications that in many cases could have been prevented.

“The failure to do more to prevent these complications is both a tragedy for the people involved and a damning indictment of the failure to implement the clear and recommended solutions.

“Unless the Government and the NHS start to show real leadership on this issue, this unfolding public health disaster will only get worse.”

Of the estimated £16.9bn cost of diabetes care in 2035, around £2.4bn will be on type 1 diabetes which occurs when the immune system destroys insulin-producing cells.

Type 2 diabetes can also be caused by genetic factors but is also linked to lifestyle including weight and diet.

Some 150,000 new patients are diagnosed annually with the condition.

Around 850,000 cases are estimated to be undetected.

Karen Addington, chief executive of the charity JDRF which is campaigning for a cure to type 1 diabetes, said investment in research into the condition had long been overlooked by the Government.

She said: “The report demonstrates clearly the vast economic impact of diabetes.

“It’s also the first time that we have been able to see the cost of the unavoidable autoimmune condition type 1 diabetes separately.

This is important because the causes of type 1 and the challenges it presents are very different to type 2 and only medical research can lift this burden on families, the NHS and the economy.”

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