Cost of Diabetes at GBP600M

Fri, 18 Sep 2009
600 million pounds are spent on doctor-prescribed diabetes medication per year.

More money is spent on diabetes medication in primary care than on treatments for any other condition according to a report.

A total of 32.9 million diabetes drugs, costing £599.3 million, were prescribed in the past financial year. In 2004-05 there were 24.8 million, costing £458 million, according to the report ‘Prescribing for Diabetes in England’, produced by the NHS Information Centre.

The report shows that the number of insulin items prescribed last year rose to 5.5 million, at a total cost of £288.3 million. It marked an eight per cent rise on the £267 million spent in the previous year.

The centre claimed that the amount being spent on diabetes is being increased by younger people developing Type 2 diabetes and being prescribed insulin to manage their condition.

Type 2 diabetes is increasing amongst younger people. As it is a progressive disease people need a lots of interventions as time goes by.

Long-acting insulins like Glargine are now common which makes sense for individuals struggling to control their Type 2 diabetes. However, this is a huge clinical change from five or ten years ago.

Three people are getting diabetes every hour. Hence, it is not surprising that the cost of treating diabetes is increasing. There are more people developing diabetes, as well as Type 2 diabetes.

Diabetics frequently take a combination of drugs to treat their condition. It is essential for those with diabetes to to lower blood glucose levels via insulin or tablets. However, it is also essential for them to take blood pressure control medication and drugs to lower cholesterol as well as blood glucose lowering agents.

Each person who has diabetes is different. Their individual circumstances are crucial to take into account in order to decide how best to treat them.

The Government needs to ensure that attempts to cut costs in the short-term cost do not jeopardise diabetics' and increase the burden on the NHS in the long-term

Link to this page

Copy and Paste the following HTML into your page.