Tens of millions in danger as sort 2 diabetes ‘time bomb’ set to blow up, specialists warn

0
373

ALMOST 2.5 million diabetics in England received inadequate treatment during the lockdown – setting off a “time bomb” for care, a charity claims.

Diabetes UK says millions of patients were missing vital checkups and tens of thousands of diagnoses were missed when non-essential services were shut down.

🔵 Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest updates

1

According to Diabetes UK, millions of patients did not receive vital exams and tens of thousands of diagnoses were missedImage Credit: Getty – Contributor

The charity is calling on new Health Minister Sajid Javid to invest millions more in the disease that affects five million Britons, of whom 13.6 million more are at risk of developing it.

Chris Askew OBE, CEO of Diabetes UK, said, “We are sitting on a diabetes time bomb, a rapidly growing diabetes care crisis.

“We urge the government to put people with diabetes at the center of their post-pandemic health agenda.

“Health professionals work incredibly hard to clean up the backlog of missed and canceled routine health checks, consultations and referrals.

“But they work with limited resources and missed appointments or late diagnoses can destroy lives.”

Last year, 2.26 million people with type 2 diabetes and more than 200,000 people with type 1 diabetes did not have their usual consultations.

One in three had appointments canceled that still hadn’t happened, and nearly half said they had difficulty managing their diabetes due to a lack of support.

One in three people who died in England during the first wave of the pandemic had diabetes.

In May, Diabetes UK reported that diabetes cases had hit an all-time high, with diagnoses doubling over the past 15 years.

It comes after one in four new cases of type 2 diabetes was overlooked by general practitioners last year, despite the British piling on the pounds because of the lockdown.

The condition – which costs the NHS £ 10 billion annually – is closely linked to obesity and poor lifestyle.

Around 254,000 British people are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in a normal year.

However, a study by the University of Manchester has shown that at least 60,000 cases have not been picked up since the Covid pandemic began.

It comes even though a fifth of adults have gained five or more pounds since the initial lockdown – further fueling the incidence of the condition.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body loses the ability to process sugar, mainly as a result of obesity.

It is a leading cause of blindness, amputation, stroke, and heart disease.

Experts warn that the sharp drop in diagnosis rates means the NHS is now facing a “huge backlog” in patients.

Alison Hammond reveals she is pre-diabetic and tells This Morning viewers not to eat her chocolate anymore