Diabetes treatment cost impacts on NHS

Fri, 24 Oct 2008
As many as 60,000 people with diabetes are costing the NHS in Northern Ireland some £1 million to treat. According to a leading diabetes charity, the sum threatens to bankrupt the Irish health service.

Diabetes UK figures indicate a 12 per cent increase in people with diabetes in the last year. Furthermore, as many as 18,000 people may have the disease and not yet be diagnosed.

The Northern Irish Director of the charity, Iain Foster, reportedly commented: "There is no getting away from the fact that this huge increase is linked to the obesity crisis. We need to do all we can to raise awareness of the seriousness of diabetes and help people understand how a healthy lifestyle can help reduce their risk of developing Type 2 diabetes ."

He reportedly continued: "It is a great challenge for the health service . Most of the models show a rapid increase in coming years which is part of the challenge. We can not deal with it in the way we have done before."

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