Hundreds of people with diabetes dying each week ‘due to lack of support to manage disease’, charity warns

FIVE hundred people with diabetes are dying prematurely every week in England and Wales, a charity has warned.

Diabetes UK has said that many of these deaths are caused by avoidable complications such as amputations, sight loss, kidney disease, stroke and heart disease.

It claimed that most of these complications would be preventable if patients were supported to better manage their condition.

This comes after an analysis of the most recent NHS National Diabetes Audit report on complications and mortality.

It found that men and women between the ages of 35 and 64 living with type 1 diabetes are three to four times more likely to die prematurely than those without the condition.

And people in the same age bracket who have type 2 diabetes are up to two times more likely to die prematurely.

The most common complications which can lead to death are stroke and cardiovascular disease - with 680 people a week suffering a stroke caused by the disease.

The charity said 530 people suffer a diabetes-related heart attack, and there are about 2,000 cases of diabetes-related heart failure.

It's now calling on NHS England to improve the quality of local diabetes services beyond 2019 in a bid to curb the numbers of people dying prematurely.

The charity's chief executive, Chris Askew, said: "Five hundred preventable, premature deaths each week is a harrowing statistic that highlights how serious diabetes can be.

"It's vital that this seriousness is recognised, and that the NHS continues to fund improvements to diabetes care beyond 2019, as it has been doing through the Diabetes Transformation Fund.

"The importance of helping people with diabetes avoid preventable complications, which can often lead to death, cannot be overstated.

KIDNEY KNOWLEDGE Kidney failure symptoms – what are the signs and stages of the condition and how’s it treated by dialysis?

"If we want to reduce the number of people with diabetes dying early and unnecessarily the investment and work started in 2017 needs to be continued.

"Progress is being made and shouldn't stop now, to ensure the benefits of transformation are fully realised."

Since 2017, the NHS Diabetes Transformation Fund has invested more than £80 million across England to improve the care people with diabetes receive.

A spokesman for NHS England said: "These important statistics are exactly why NHS England has invested £80 million in the last two years to improve the treatment, care and outcomes for people with diabetes.

"As we draw up the long-term plan for the NHS, we will be building on the success of our existing work to reduce variation and ensure services are available to help prevent the complications associated with diabetes."

We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at tips@the-sun.co.uk or call 0207 782 4368. You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours