Delayed diabetes checks potentially contributed to England’s excess death rate

A charity report from Diabetes UK suggests that delayed diabetes checks as well as routine health checks could have added to 7,000 more deaths than usual in England last year.  

According to the leading charity, Diabetes claims in their report that too many people are still being left to suffer alone when managing their challenging condition. The illness causes a person’s blood sugar level to become too high, which cause fatal consequences such as heart attacks or strokes.

Diabetes can be diagnosed in two different types – type one is a lifelong condition where the body’s immune system attacks and destroys the cells that produce insulin and type two is where the body does not produce enough insulin, or the body’s cells do not react to insulin properly.

The report states that there are more than five million people in the UK living with diabetes, but around 1.9 million missed out on routine vital checks in 2021-22.

In response to this, NHS England have said returning routine care to pre-pandemic levels has become a key priority and that local areas have been given £36m to help restore diabetes services.

Disruption to care during the pandemic is likely to be a factor in the current backlog, which could be causing a higher number of deaths than usual in people with diabetes, the report states. An example of this is between January and March 2023, there were 1,461 excess deaths involving diabetes, which is three times higher than during the same period last year.

In response to this, the charity claims, ‘urgent action is needed to reverse this trend and support everyone living with diabetes to live well with the condition.’

Alongside the harrowing amount of additional deaths caused, the report also found:

• Only 47% of people with diabetes in England received all eight of their required checks in 2021-22, down from 57% before the pandemic
• In some areas, only 10% had received routine checks and these areas were likely to be the most deprived in the UK
• One in 10 people surveyed in the poorest areas said they had no contact with their healthcare team in more than a year

Chris Askew, Chief Executive of Diabetes UK, said: ‘Far too many people with diabetes are being left to go it alone managing this challenging and potentially fatal condition, with deeply alarming numbers of checks either missed or delayed.’