The annual NHS cost of caring for people with type II diabetes in the UK is £2 billion, or 4.7 per cent of total health service expenditure, according to study findings reported this week by the British Diabetic Association and the King's Fund health charity.
The study assessed all the resources used by over 1,500 people with type II diabetes from four centres (Brighton, Hemel Hempstead, Lanarkshire and Newcastle-upon-Tyne). Forty-one per cent of overall expenditure on diabetes was found to be spent on inpatient care. The management of diabetic complications (microvascular and macrovascular) increased NHS costs by over 500 per cent compared with patients without complications. Only 2 per cent of overall costs were spent on oral antidiabetic agents.
The findings were reported at the spring meeting of the British Diabetic Association in Brighton on March 15. Speaking at the meeting, Professor Rhys Williams (professor of epidemiology and public health, Nuffield Institute for Health, University of Leeds) said: "Investment in the prevention of complications, rather than their treatment, is the key to improving patients' lives and reducing the burden on the NHS." Referring to the recent UK Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS), which showed that intensive treatment can reduce the risk of developing complications of type II diabetes, Professor Williams added: "We must take this new evidence on board and promote early, more intensive intervention in type II diabetes ."
Mr Simon O'Neill (head of the care developments team at the BDA) added: "This more intensive approach to treatment needs to be adopted throughout the UK if we are to improve the outcome for patients in the long term and reduce their need for costly hospital care."
The study was conducted jointly by the BDA, the King's Fund, the Economists Advisory Group (an economics consultancy) and Smithkline Beecham.