Huge rise in diabetics in Britain could bankrupt NHS, warns charity

A diabetes epidemic in Britain, with a record 3.3 million people diagnosed as suffering the disease, could bankrupt the country's National Health Service (NHS), a leading health charity warned Monday.

Figures from the NHS revealed a 60 percent increase in the number of people with diabetes over the past 10 years. It has sent the NHS drugs bill rocketing, with 1.36 billion U.S. dollars a year being spent on medicine for diabetes, 10 percent of the total spent on medication.

The leading charity for the condition, Diabetes UK, issued a grim warning Monday: "The costs of treating diabetes will continue to spiral out of control and threaten to bankrupt the NHS. Now is the time for action."

The charity has warned that at the current level of increase the number of diabetics in Britain will rocket to more than 5 million by 2025.

The charity said there is an urgent need for effective care for sufferers, while more must be done to highlight the importance of prevention.

The figures show 3,333,069 Britons have been diagnosed as being diabetic, compared with 2.1 million sufferers in 2005.

Nice, Britain's National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, warned that poorly managed diabetes can lead to devastating and expensive health complications including amputations and strokes.

Barbara Young, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: "Diabetes already costs the NHS nearly 10 billion pounds a year, and 80 percent of this is spent on managing avoidable complications. So there is huge potential to save money and reduce pressure on NHS hospitals and services through providing better care to prevent people with diabetes from developing devastating and costly complications."

"The NHS must prioritise providing better care, along with improved and more flexible education options, for people with diabetes now, and give them the best possible chance of living long and healthy lives," Young said. Endit