Charity reports increase in the number of people diagnosed with diabetes

Posted 04/03/2013

The charity Diabetes UK reports that 3 million people in the UK are now diagnosed with diabetes, compared to 1.4 million in 1996. About 90% have type 2 diabetes, which is linked to age and an increase in weight. The fear is that this latest increase is marking what may become a continuing trend, with numbers forecast to reach 5 million by 2025.The increase in sufferers has prompted fears of what could rapidly become a public health emergency with the potential for devastating consequences for those who have the condition. The charity have urged for steps to be taken to identify those who are at a high risk of developing the condition, and for support to be given to enable them to make the relevant lifestyle changes.They also call for those already diagnosed with the condition to be given the care and support needed to treat the diabetes and to help avoid the devastating consequences that can follow.Trefine Maynard, a clinical negligence specialist at Ashtons Legal, says:“We deal with a number of cases where those suffering with diabetes suffer amputations or other significant injuries brought about by the side effects of the condition or the failure to adequately monitor and treat it.The well publicised rise in obesity underlines the potential danger of a rise in the incidence of diabetes, as well as the many and varied side effects of this condition. Increased awareness of how to prevent the condition, together with much greater vigilance from those treating patients who are known to have it, is essential. If you look at the steps taken to reduce smoking following the eventual acceptance of the risks that it presents to health, then one can imagine what might be achieved if diabetes were to be given a similar prominence. I wish that I and my colleagues could be confident that in the future we will not see cases where people come to us having suffered from the side effects of diabetes and the failure to treat it adequately. Sadly I think this is unlikely.Some health problems are impossible to predict or prevent; the majority of diabetes is now thought to be both predictable and preventable. How can anyone defend a failure to take immediate and effective action?”