Type II Diabetes 'on course to bankrupt the NHS in less than 10 years'
The NHS Type II Diabetes Prevention Week runs 26th May to 1st June 2025 – Dr Dawn Harper with Yuwell Anytime is campaigning for Government and the NHS to focus on Prevention and Remission to save the NHS The exponential increase in diabetes far exceeds predictions made just 7 years ago, setting a gravely concerning trend.
In 2018 there were 3.2 million people living with diabetes. This was predicted to rise to 5 million by this year, 2025.
However, the harsh reality is that there are already 5.8 million living with diabetes this year; PLUS an estimated 1.3 million people living with undiagnosed Type II; PLUS 6.3 million people who have been diagnosed as prediabetic.
Type II Diabetes accounts for 90% of the 5.8 million people living with diabetes in the UK. Add onto that the 6.3 million prediabetics today, who without intervention will go onto develop Type II. Whilst there is no cure for Type I Diabetes, Type II diabetes is preventable through lifestyle. And people with Type II Diabetes can go into remission through lifestyle management.
The ONLY cure to this disease, which is likely to bankrupt the NHS and destroy the health of millions of people in the UK, is by prevention and remission. This can be done by widely employing better health screening and NHS access to Continuous Glucose Monitoring tech (CGM) to prediabetics and non-insulin dependent Type II’s. CGM tech empowers patients to understand the impact of lifestyle choices – dietary, stress and physical activity - on their blood glucose levels and support them to understand the lifestyle changes they need to make to maintain their levels within a healthy range. This with the NHS’s National Diabetes Prevention Programme could save the NHS £billions and save the health of millions of people in the UK.
We need to stop the growth of Type II Diabetes in its tracks and reverse the millions of people already living with the disease by getting them into remission.
The UK could easily have 13.4 million diabetics by 2035 based on statistical recorded data between 2018 and today. And that does not even take into account new diagnosis made over the next ten years using the HbA1c test, which came into use as an official diagnostic test by the World Health Organisation in 2011.
Currently the NHS spend on diabetes is £10.7 billion a year, accounting for a huge 10% of the entire NHS annual budget – equivalent to around £1.85 million per person per year. The prediction from the charity Diabetes UK is that this budget will increase to £18 billion per year by 2035, which is a gross underestimate… At the current rate of growth in the prevalence of diabetes, the actual annual cost to the NHS could easily rise well over £25 billion per year well before 2035.
Diabetes is a leading cause of death in people with heart disease. It is also the leading cause of secondary illness and disease. During this national NHS Type II Diabetes Prevention Week it is crucial to raise awareness of this devastating disease and support Dr Dawn Harper and Yuwell Anytime’s campaign for prevention and remission.