A Type 2 diagnosis every three minutes

Marking the start of NHS England’s Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Week, Diabetes UK has released new analysis which shows that one person is diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes every three minutes in England and Wales. With just over two hundred thousand people were diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in England and Wales in 2017, the most recent year for which statistics are available, meaning 23 people every hour, or one person every three minutes. (Statistics are not available for Northern Ireland.)

NHS England’s Diabetes Prevention Programme is running Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Week from 1st to 7th April to raise awareness about their Healthier You programme, a free service to help people reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. Diabetes UK has teamed up with NHS England and is encouraging people to find out their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by using the Know Your Risk tool.

Recently released figures from Diabetes UK showed the number of people living with diabetes in the UK has risen to 4.7 million, and is expected to reach 5.5 million by 2030. NHS England currently spends 10% of its annual budget on treating diabetes and its associated complications. If nothing changes this will increase as more people develop the condition, 90% of people diagnosed with diabetes have Type 2.

Chris Askew, Chief Executive at Diabetes UK, said of the shocking statistic, “Three in five cases of Type 2 diabetes can be prevented or delayed by eating well, being active and achieving a healthy weight, meaning there is hope for the future. We need urgent action to prevent as many of the 12.3 million people at increased risk of Type 2 diabetes from developing the condition. The first step is helping people understand their risk using the Diabetes UK Know Your Risk tool. The second is giving people the knowledge and resources necessary to help them reduce their risk by eating healthily, moving more and losing weight if necessary. Action must also be taken to tackle the obesity epidemic, which has contributed to the rise of Type 2 diabetes. While we encourage everyone to eat more healthily and move more, it’s equally important that the government tackle our obesogenic environment, and make the healthy choice the easy choice.”

Dr Partha Kar, associated clinical director for diabetes for NHS England added, “These figures underline the importance of wider action on obesity prevention, and confirm the importance of the action set out in the NHS Long Term Plan including expanding the NHS Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Programme so that 200,000 people every year can benefit, and introducing a pilot of very low calorie diets that have been shown to put Type 2 diabetes into remission in a significant proportion of those that already have it.”

The Diabetes UK Know Your Risk tool is a free, online test that lets anyone find out their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes KNOW YOUR RISK.

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Desang Diabetes Magazine is our free-to-receive digital journal (see below). We cover diabetes news, diabetes management equipment (diabetes ‘kit’ such as insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitoring equipment) and news about food suitable for a diabetic diet including a regular Making Carbs Count column. We just need your email address to subscribe you (it really is free, and you can easily unsubscribe should you wish to).

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