SCOTS experts say there is an urgent need for better care of the increasing numbers of people with diabetes as new figures show the numbers with the condition have soared by more than half in ten years.
New figures, extracted from official NHS data, show that there are now 3,333,069 people diagnosed with diabetes in the UK, which is an increase of more than 1.2 million adults compared with ten years ago when, in 2005, there were 2,086,041 people diagnosed with the condition.
The 59.8 per cent rise doesn’t take into account the 590,000 adults estimated to have undiagnosed diabetes in 2013-2014.
And Diabetes UK is warning that an exponential growth in numbers reflects an urgent need to prevent the disease or it will spiral out of control and "threaten to bankrupt the NHS".
Diabetes Scotland says diabetes already costs the NHS nearly £10 billion a year, with £1 billion of that in Scotland and 80 per cent of this is spent on managing avoidable complications.
And they have warned that a failure to act over effective care and prevention "threatens to bring down the NHS" as they deal with the cost of dealing with diabetes complications such as blindness, kidney disease, strokes and amputations.
They believe support for people to successfully self-manage their condition is key and the "delivery of high quality person-centred care by healthcare professionals is critical".
It was estimated 276,000 people were living with diabetes in Scotland in 2014 - an all-time high, and a rise of 25% over six years.
Diabetes Scotland says the increase can be attributed to an ageing population, improved treatments so people can live longer with the condition, improved rates of diagnosis and better recording of figures.
Jane-Claire Judson, national director of Diabetes Scotland, said: “Since 2008 the number of people living with diabetes in Scotland has increased by 25 per cent. A further 475,000 are thought to be at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.
"While this trend itself is of great concern, a major issue facing people living with diabetes is the lack of provision and access to good diabetes education and support to manage their condition well.
"When people are supported to live well with their diabetes, they can reduce their risk of complications such as heart disease, stroke and neuropathy, which can lead to lower limb amputation."
She said it was also "vitally important" that everyone living with diabetes receive the nine care processes as recommended by the Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, such as retinopathy screening and a foot risk score, which she said was "not currently happening".
"These care processes should be delivered as a matter of routine from their healthcare team to ensure that any potential complications are found and treated early which will enable people to live long, healthy lives and also reduce the cost to NHS Scotland in the long-run," she said.
Scots public health minister Maureen Watt said the increase in people living with diabetes in Scotland is because people with diabetes are living longer with the condition.
She said: “Latest figures show that for the first time we are seeing the percentage of people with poor glucose control decreasing and more people than ever accessing crucial eye screening and feet checks.
“Our Diabetes Improvement Plan, which was published in November 2014, builds on these positive findings and sets out a programme of work to enhance services for people with diabetes, and help reduce their risk of complications.
“We are also taking concerted action to encourage people to make healthy lifestyle choices, including eating healthily, managing their weight and increasing physical activity. All of these things have a vital role to play in preventing Type 2 diabetes, which accounts for the vast majority of diabetes cases in Scotland.”
Diabetes UK, which released the new figure said at present only six in ten people with diabetes in England and Wales receive the eight care processes recommended by the National Institute for Health Care and Excellence (NICE).
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