Diabetes is the number one health threat in the UK. Currently 3.7 million people are living with the condition, with a further seven million at high risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. It’s a condition that costs the NHS over £10 billion a year, yet 80 per cent of these costs are spent on complications that are, with good care, avoidable. The number of people with Type 2 diabetes in the UK is rising rapidly and is set to reach five million by 2025. Half of the people with Type 2 diabetes already have serious complications when they are diagnosed.
It is imperative that we take action now to stem the rising tide of Type 2 diabetes and the massive human and economic costs associated with this serious long-term condition. A key aspect of tackling the rise in Type 2 diabetes and its devastating and costly complications is to bridge the gap between anticipated prevalence and those diagnosed. Currently about 850,000 people with Type 2 diabetes remain undiagnosed and the gap between actual and expected rates is closing only very slowly.
The NHS Health Check programme, launched four years ago by the Department of Health in England, has huge potential to detect people with Type 2 diabetes and to identify those at high risk, who can then be given support and lifestyle interventions to reduce their risk and prevent onset of the condition. Diabetes UK is disappointed that, so far, this potential has not been realised.
Implementation of the programme has been poor and patchy at best. A number of PCTs failed to offer a single person an NHS Health Check last year and the intensive lifestyle interventions, that are essential to the effectiveness of the programme in preventing Type 2 diabetes, are not being comprehensively commissioned. There is considerable variation in the way that PCTs have delivered the programme, and, despite a strong policy focus in the Department of Health, the overall implementation of the programme has been poor.
In April next year the responsibility for commissioning the NHS Health Check programme will shift to local authorities as part of their new public health duties. Diabetes UK is concerned about the impact of this transfer on the future sustainability of the programme and the potential for further variation in its implementation at a local level.
It will be more important than ever in the new environment to ensure the effective implementation of the NHS Health Check programme, and the follow up action, to diagnose and prevent Type 2 diabetes in those found to be at high risk. We want to see a national implementation team for the NHS Health Check programme established within Public Health England and assurance that local authorities will be fully funded to commission the NHS Health Check programme in its entirety.
Barbara Young
Chief Executive, Diabetes UK
Download The NHS Health Check Programme – Let's Get It Right (PDF, 582KB)