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thomas davison

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Diabetes crisis to cripple NHS
UK DIABETES CRISIS TO CRIPPLE NHS

Obesity-fuelled diabetes is putting millions at risk of a host of debilitating conditions/posed by m
Monday December 10,2012
By Jo Willey AN urgent warning has been delivered to Britons to act quickly or face a lifetime of chronic illness and early death caused by diabetes.

An epidemic of obesity-fuelled diabetes revealed in a new audit is putting millions at higher risk of a host of debilitating conditions from heart disease and stroke to amputations.

Doctors warn that if more is not done to control the crisis, the cost of diabetes treatment � which is already �1million every hour � could cripple the NHS.

But they say there is a �real opportunity� to turn the tide if patients work with their GP and make simple lifestyle changes such as getting their glucose, blood pressure and cholesterol under control, eating a healthy diet and exercising regularly.

The world�s biggest audit of diabetes has revealed that sufferers are almost 50 per cent more likely to have a heart attack and are at a 25 per cent greater risk of a stroke than the general population. They are also at a 40 per cent higher risk of death.

Dr Bob Young, a consultant diabetologist who led the National Diabetes Audit for England and Wales, said the risks were not inevitable.

�That is the positive message. A lot can be done to prevent them but it requires partnership between people with the condition and their health services,� he said.

�What we are seeing is 10 years of not achieving the glucose control, the blood pressure control and cholesterol control targets, plus unhealthy lifestyles in people who have got diabetes. There is a real opportunity to reduce them.�

The audit, which analysed the care of nearly two million people with diabetes in 2010/11, revealed that sufferers are 65 per cent more likely to have some sort of heart failure than the general population and 144 per cent more likely to need dialysis or kidney transplants.

They are 331 per cent more likely to need a minor amputation of part of the foot and 210 per cent more likely to need a major amputation. Women were at a greater relative risk of death than men.

Barbara Young, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: �The findings are bleak and show how important it is to avoid developing Type 2 diabetes.

�I would urge people to find out if they are at risk by completing our online risk assessment or, if they are aged between 40 and 74, getting an NHS Health Check. It is also important for people who already have diabetes to understand that early death and devastating health complications are not an inevitable part of having the condition.�

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said: �There has been progress, but there is still unacceptable variation and we are determined to put that right.

�In the latest GP contract we have proposed new measures to help GPs give people with diabetes the best chance of preventing complications and help more patients control their blood sugar, blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

�Local authorities will be given a ring-fenced budget to tackle problems like obesity. We want to make sure that people living with diabetes are given the care and support they need and this audit will help us do this.�

Dr Young, who is clinical lead for the National Diabetes Information Service, added: �If we don�t do anything, it is going to worsen because the number of people with diabetes is increasing by five per cent per year.

�There are essentially three opportunities to minimise the impact. First is to achieve the recommended levels of blood sugar, blood pressure and blood cholesterol and to have a healthy lifestyle in respect of what you eat and how much exercise you do.

�Second is through annual checks to pick up people at the earliest stage of these problems and to offer additional interventions. Third, when people have heart failure or a heart attack, that we use the very best approaches to minimise the risk of death.�

I have type 2 and find that the doctors and nurses are reading from a script, they dont have the foggiest idea whats behind it, but they dish out the tablets like they are going out of style.
How many trillions of pounds do the pharmacies get for not curing you, doctors and nurses are a waste of space so its up to yourself to find out whats causing it and how to get rid of it.