A report by the Association of Medical Research Charities (AMRC) and Wellcome calculates the economic impact of our flagship DiRECT trial into type 2 diabetes remission, showing the potential for huge cost savings for the NHS.
Our DiRECT trial showed for the first time that it’s possible for some people living with overweight or obesity to put their type 2 diabetes into remission - for at least five years through a weight management programme. DiRECT was led by Professors Roy Taylor (pictured) and Mike Lean.
DiRECT-ing remission in the NHS
In 2020, NHS England launched its Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission Programme, inspired by DiRECT. It has been giving tens of thousands of people living with overweight or obesity and type 2 diabetes the chance to put their type 2 into remission.
Now an economic analysis of the DiRECT weight management programme suggests it could deliver huge benefits for people living with type 2 diabetes, while also saving the NHS up to £1 billion - if rolled out to everyone eligible.
In the new analysis, researchers first calculated how much DiRECT’s weight management programme could improve the health and wellbeing of people with type 2 and converted this into a monetary value. They estimated that each person taking part in the programme could experience improvements to their health equivalent to £5,237 over their lifetime.
Scaled up across the 631,000 people in the UK who’re currently eligible for the NHS Type 2 Diabetes Path to Remission Programme, this could mean £3 billion worth of improvements to people’s lives. Joe's story demonstrates how DiRECT has positively impacted his health.
The analysis also suggests that DiRECT could lead to substantial savings to the NHS, mainly because people could need fewer medications.
Running the programme costs the NHS about £2,090 per person, but the savings from fewer prescriptions or medical appointments were estimated at £3,806. That means a saving to the NHS of £1,717 per person with type 2 diabetes. Multiply that by the number of eligible people in the UK, and the potential savings to the NHS could be up to £1 billion across people’s lifetimes.
Dr Elizabeth Robertson, Director of Research and Clinical at Diabetes UK, said:
“Charity-funded research is unique because it is not only supported but also shaped by the very people it seeks to benefit. Uniting patients with the scientific and medical communities can spark innovative ideas, accelerate progress, and improve lives.
“The Diabetes UK–funded DiRECT study is a powerful example of how charity investment in an understudied area has delivered life-changing results, with thousands of people with type 2 diabetes now in remission and projected savings to the NHS of up to £1 billion. This shows that when people with lived experience of a condition come together to fund and shape research, the impact ripples far and wide - transforming healthcare and society as a whole."
We’ve been leading the way in funding first-of-its-kind type 2 diabetes remission research for two decades. Find out more about our remission research journey and our DiRECT trial.
