A new report from Diabetes UK reveals that NHS organisations aiming to tackle healthcare inequalities in local populations may be overlooking the importance of improving diabetes care in their area.
Supported by Novo Nordisk, the report examined 50 Health and Well-being Boards, which were introduced to enhance the state of healthcare in areas across the country. Shockingly, many of the bodies did not acknowledge diabetes services as a priority for development in their strategy, with just 54% placing emphasis on annual NHS Health Checks and the importance of earlier diagnosis in their Joint Strategic Needs Assessment. This document, which outlines the healthcare needs of the area, could help up to 850,000 people with undiagnosed type 2 diabetes and a further 7 million people at high-risk of developing the condition to get the healthcare support they require.
In addition, despite 46% of people with diabetes not receiving the nine annual healthcare checks as recommended by NICE, only half of the bodies had included an initiative to improve diabetes management in their Joint Health and Well-being strategiy. A lack of proper health checks is thought to be responsible for the high rates of diabetes-related complications in the UK, which include stroke, blindness and cardiovascular disease. Not only are these complications extremely detrimental to personal health, they are also costly to treat, increasing the financial burden on the NHS. It is currently estimated that 80% of the NHS budget is spent on treating preventable complications of diabetes.
Concerned that commissioning decisions will be influenced by these strategies, Diabetes UK is calling on local Health and Well-being Boards to help stem the increasing prevalence of the condition by improving diabetes healthcare inequalities in their areas. Following the government’s admission that diabetes healthcare is poor, the charity has warned that the rates of complications will continue to rise unless the state of diabetes healthcare is adequately addressed.
Barbara Young, Chief Executive of Diabetes UK, said: “We want to work with Health and Wellbeing Boards and Clinical Commissioning Groups to help them deliver and prioritise improving diabetes healthcare so that everyone with diabetes and those at high risk of type 2 diabetes get the good quality care they need to live long healthy lives.”
The report can be found on the Diabetes UK website: www.diabetes.org.uk
