Type 2 Diabetes Rapidly on Course to Become the UK’s Greatest Health Crisis in History

The UK is facing a looming national health catastrophe: Type 2 diabetes is rapidly escalating toward becoming the most devastating chronic epidemic in the nation’s history.

Urgent action must be taken now to avoid a severe health crisis in the UK far worse than Covid.

Health Impacts – FACTS: 

• Type 2 diabetes contributes to soaring rates of disease and amputations…
• Every WEEK alone in the UK, people with Type II suffer:
  • 660 HEART ATTACKS
  • 930 STROKES
  • 2,990 HEART FAILURES
  • 184 AMPUTATIONS
• Diabetes is the leading cause of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end-stage renal disease in the UK. 

Alarming Scale & Growth – FACTS:

• Today there are 5.2 million people in the UK with Type II Diabetes
• There are an additional 6.3 million people in the UK with Prediabetes, who will go on to develop Type II without preventative intervention, accentuating the scale of the problem to worrying levels
• These 6.3 million prediabetics, without early intervention, WILL progress to Type II within 5 to 10 years
• There is predicted to be a further 1 million cases of undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes
• In just the five years between 2018 and 2023 there was a huge 59% increase in Type II diagnoses
• In the same years between 2018 and 2023 diagnoses of prediabetes more than doubled (over 100% increase)
• Latest data shows a terrifying increase in prediabetes of over 75% between the 2023 data and today!  The rate of growth is spiralling out of control!
• The current NHS Diabetes Prevention programme has poor uptake, resulting in saving just 18,000 people from progressing to Type II.  This is a tiny percentage of the 12 million plus people who are at risk.  If CGM is included in the programme, uptake, engagement would increase hugely, resulting in saving the health of millions and saving the NHS and economy £billions.

Obesity: The Core Driver:

• Obesity is the primary modifiable risk factor for Type 2 diabetes: approximately 90% of adults with Type 2 diabetes are overweight or obese, and obese individuals are five times more likely to develop the disease than those at a healthy weight
• As of 2022–23, 64% of English adults were overweight or obese, including 26.2% clinically obese—a rising trend setting the stage for continued diabetes surge

Financial burden – FACTS:

• Treating Type 2 diabetes, costs the NHS an estimated £10.7 billion annually, with broader economic impacts estimated at £27 billion

• £8 billion of the £10.7 billion NHS spend is on the extremely serious complications, including renal failure, heart disease, loss of sight and amputations.

The ONLY CURE is prevention in people with prediabetes, and remission in people with Type II This can be achieved without medication, through the use of Continuous Glucose Monitoring devices (CGM’s); in tandem with the NHS’s National Diabetes Prevention Programme education in Primary Care.

CEO of Urathon Europe ltd, Hugh Sims Hilditch, is calling for urgent action now and is meeting with MP’s to offer a crisis strategy, offering his consultancy time free of charge to Wes Streeting.  

Urathon Europe Ltd, has a proven track record as a VIP supplier to the NHS during Covid, supplying over 200 million facemasks; also providing product procurement consultancy, quality control consultancy for other products throughout the pandemic.  Urathon now supplies the latest CGM to the UK market.  This new device, the Anytime CGM, is being offered to the NHS at a cost of up to 50% less than other similar devices, presenting an affordable option to roll out wider access to CGM tech at the grassroots of the disease.  

The Anytime would cost the NHS just £175 per person on the NHS Diabetes Prevention Programme, for a recommended three months’ usage, a tiny fraction of the costs of medical treatment which would otherwise be incurred for these patients.