In an appalling revelation, the National Audit Office (NAO) found that 24,000 people in the UK die every year due to the NHS’ failure to provide proper diabetes cure.

A damning report by the government’s spending watchdog found that the diabetic treatment has become a ‘postcode lottery’, with a wide difference in quality of care from one region to another.

In one region,only 6% of diabetes patients received the recommended levels of care, while in another region over 69% sufferers received care in the highest-achieving care trusts (PCTs), unveiled the NAO report.

Diabetic care across Britain is so inadequate that only half of people with diabetes across England received the recommended care in 2009 to 2010. NAO inquiry also found that no PCT delivered the nine basic care processes which every diabetic is meant to undergo each year.

Noticeably, the nine basic care processes reduce the risk of diabetes-related complications such as blindness, amputation or kidney disease. NAO report claimed that PCTs in Mid Essex and Swindon were the worst offenders as less than 9% of patients received the nine basic tests recommended by the Department of Health.

“The Department holds information to assess performance but there is a lack of accountability for PCTs who fail to ensure that the recommended standards of care are met,” the report stated.

“This report shows that diabetes healthcare in England is not meeting the challenge and that much of the colossal amount of money being spent on it is being wasted. But by using the money we already spend on diabetes more wisely, we could stop 24,000 people dying unnecessarily every year”, said Barbara Young, chief executive of Diabetes UK.

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