Diabetes

Dear constituent,

Thank you for contacting me about diabetes care and prevention.

Diabetes is one of the most serious public health challenges facing our country. Diagnoses have doubled in the last 15 years and the number of people living with the condition is estimated at close to five million. A further 13.6 million people are now at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Concerted action is needed to improve care and treatment, alongside better access to technologies that will support self-management. We must also ensure that we are taking robust measures to support the prevention of type 2 diabetes.

COVID-19 has had a huge impact across society. A recent Diabetes UK report finds almost half of people living with diabetes experienced difficulties managing their condition last year, and one in six people have had no contact with their healthcare team since before the pandemic.

NHS waiting lists stand at a record 6.7 million and hundreds of thousands of patients are waiting more than a year for treatment. Ministers point to the impact of COVID-19 exacerbating pressures on the health service. But our NHS entered the pandemic with a record 4.5 million people on waiting lists and 100,000 vacancies.

I am concerned that years of mismanagement and a failure to tackle widespread staff vacancies weakened and exposed our health service. As a result, we now have the highest waiting times in the NHS’s history and the lowest patient satisfaction since 1997.

In February, the Government set out a plan to tackle backlogs in planned NHS treatment, warning that waiting lists could rise to 10 million before falling again from March 2024. But I believe this falls short of the scale of the challenge facing the NHS.

I urge the Government to ensure diabetes care and prevention is a priority. We need a credible strategy to tackle the primary care backlog, bring down waiting lists and ensure routine screening for diabetes. A long term workforce strategy is also required to recruit, retain, and train the staff we need to ensure everyone living with diabetes receives the care and treatment they deserve. This should be supported by improved access to new technologies that will allow people living with diabetes to better manage their condition.

Thank you once again for contacting me about this issue.

Yours sincerely,

Peter Dowd MP