Campaign reply - Please tell Sajid Javid we need a diabetes care recovery plan

Thank you for contacting me about support and treatment for people with diabetes.

Diabetes is a leading cause of premature mortality, doubling an individual's risk of cardiovascular disease. With over 22,000 additional deaths each year, it costs over £10 billion every year to manage. That is why I believe it is important that high quality diabetes care is available.

NHS England has invested approximately £120 million of funding into local services to improve performance in the treatment and care of people living with diabetes since 2017/18. This is focused on improving attendance at structured education to increase understanding, improving achievement of NICE targets, reducing amputations through improved provision of multidisciplinary footcare teams, improving timelines of referrals from primary care for patients with diabetic foot disease, and reducing lengths of stay for diabetic inpatients through specialist nursing services.

I agree that it is important that people with diabetes can access the routine care and support that they need, and am glad that the Government is committed to supporting the NHS to recover from the Covid-19 pandemic. An additional £23.3 billion has been announced to support the NHS in managing the ongoing impact of the pandemic. I understand that the Government is also analysing the impact of the pandemic on health conditions like diabetes, to inform how to recover the provision of routine care. I await the findings of this with interest and will seek an update from ministerial colleagues on the progress of this work.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to write. If you require any further assistance, then please do not hesitate to get in touch.