Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
Diabetes specialist nurses help to reduce the risk of complications that are both devastating for the person involved and very expensive to treat, says Barbara Young
I must be one of the few chief executives of a health-related charity who is not calling for more money to be spent on my cause in these days of austerity.
When it comes to diabetes, no one can argue that the government is not putting its money - or, rather, our money - where its mouth is. The NHS is already spending a colossal sum on diabetes; in fact, around 10% of the entire NHS budget goes on treating the condition.
So far, so good. But the problem is that this level of expenditure is not translating into good health outcomes.
Rates of complications, such as kidney failure and stroke, are at record levels and every week about 80 diabetes-related amputations are performed that could have been prevented. We are the poorest-performing country in Europe when it comes to blood glucose control for children with diabetes.
All this is contributing to the fact that people with diabetes are dying younger than the rest of the population and many are enduring debilitating complications.
http://www.nursingtimes.net/cuts-to...icle?blocktitle=Latest-opinion&contentID=6855
(free registration required)
I must be one of the few chief executives of a health-related charity who is not calling for more money to be spent on my cause in these days of austerity.
When it comes to diabetes, no one can argue that the government is not putting its money - or, rather, our money - where its mouth is. The NHS is already spending a colossal sum on diabetes; in fact, around 10% of the entire NHS budget goes on treating the condition.
So far, so good. But the problem is that this level of expenditure is not translating into good health outcomes.
Rates of complications, such as kidney failure and stroke, are at record levels and every week about 80 diabetes-related amputations are performed that could have been prevented. We are the poorest-performing country in Europe when it comes to blood glucose control for children with diabetes.
All this is contributing to the fact that people with diabetes are dying younger than the rest of the population and many are enduring debilitating complications.
http://www.nursingtimes.net/cuts-to...icle?blocktitle=Latest-opinion&contentID=6855
(free registration required)