Five million people in England at high risk of type 2 diabetes

Barbara Young, chief executive of the charity Diabetes UK, said: “Having high blood glucose levels significantly increases your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, which is a serious health condition which affects 2.9 million people in England, and can lead to devastating complications such as blindness, amputations and stroke, and ultimately early death”.

“The growing body of evidence makes us confident that our NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme will reduce the numbers of those at risk going on to develop the debilitating disease”.

But the NHS is preparing to roll out a diet, weight loss and exercise programme that has been shown to reduce the diabetes risk for a quarter of those who take it up.

People with diabetes experienced about 200,000 complications in the UK in 2012-2013, according to new analysis by Diabetes UK. Diabetes UK said the figures may be higher as the audit does not include all people with diabetes. “We are becoming the sofa generation and this inactivity, together with an increasing consumption of unhealthy foods and obesity, is leading to more cases of type 2 diabetes”.

People identified through existing blood test results or an NHS health check as being at risk of Type 2 will be offered a place on the programme, which will last nine months.

It is also not clear how many people experienced complications as people with diabetes can suffer from multiple complications in a given year.

With the numbers of people with diabetes rising at an alarming rate, it is vital that the government and the NHS act urgently to end the postcode lottery of diabetes care and ensure that all people living with diabetes get the support and care they need to live long healthy lives.

“We’re looking for providers who can step up to the mark and deliver the programme”, Valabhji said.

Trials in Finland, the US, Japan, China and India have shown 30%-60% reductions in type 2 diabetes incidence over three years. In Bradford, for instance, the target is everyone of south Asian origin and over the age of 23.

For the first time, data on diabetes susceptibility are available for local areas, revealing that that the percentage of the population at high risk ranges from 8.5 per cent in Brighton, the best-performing area, to 14 per cent in Harrow, where the most people are at risk.

It noted that diabetes accounts for 10% of the entire NHS budget, and the NHS spends £8bn on treating the complications of diabetes, many of which could be prevented with good management.

A major NHS programme focusing on exercise and healthy eating will be launched next year that could prevent one in four people with high blood sugar developing the condition.