Diabetes Costs 'out Of Control'

[interestrateripoff]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10740224

The NHS is spending too much on diabetes drugs say researchers, who found the medicines account for 7% of the UK prescribing budget.

A big rise in the number of people with type 2 diabetes in recent years does not fully explain the spiralling costs, say Cardiff University researchers.

With rates of the condition expected to rise further, the NHS needs to get the budget under control, they conclude.

But GPs said they had to look out for the best interests of their patients.

In 2008 the NHS spent £700m on drugs to control blood sugar, figures show.

The researchers calculated that between 2000 and 2008 the number of prescriptions for glucose-lowering drugs had risen by 50%.

But costs, even taking into account the price of inflation, rose by 104%, they said.

Writing in the journal Diabetic Medicine, they said figures for England specifically show an increase from £290m to £591m over the study period.

Researchers pointed to marked increases in use of the most expensive therapies.

Newer drugs, like rosiglitazone, as well as increasing use of insulin - the hormone that controls blood sugar levels in the body - have contributed to the increased costs, they said.

The diabetic recovery.

Looks like the NHS is going to face some very tough choices over the coming years.

As wages make up the largest part of the NHS something is going to have to give.

The UK's lifestyle is unsustainable.

[Pole]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10740224

The diabetic recovery.

Looks like the NHS is going to face some very tough choices over the coming years.

As wages make up the largest part of the NHS something is going to have to give.

The UK's lifestyle is unsustainable.

a must watch for all

[Guest Noodle]

How?

My entire annual supply of metformin comes to 1000 Baht (£20).

[ccc]

Brilliant. 7% of the entire spending is down to something that is*, for many, entirely preventable.

* As far as I am aware.

[Tonkers]

I went to my doctors with an ear problem. He seemed very keen to test for diabetes, although I had not presented any symptoms. I refused, sorted myself out with ear wax drops (which was the problem) and changed doctor.

A few years back I read that the doctor scored more points (and more funding) depending on what he diagnosed, with diabetes being high up the list.

Just made me wonder...

[Guest Noodle]

I went to my doctors with an ear problem. He seemed very keen to test for diabetes, although I had not presented any symptoms. I refused, sorted myself out with ear wax drops (which was the problem) and changed doctor.

A few years back I read that the doctor scored more points (and more funding) depending on what he diagnosed, with diabetes being high up the list.

Just made me wonder...

I believe the reason is they like to catch it early as possible because if left undiagnosed the consequences get worse and worse and therefore the costs.

[urban_hymn]

Brilliant. 7% of the entire spending is down to something that is*, for many, entirely preventable.

* As far as I am aware.

I can't believe the crappy, sugary, processed junk my colleagues bring into work. They on the other hand turn their nose up at my fresh fruit and plain yoghurt etc. and consider it (I suspect) a bit poofy.

[lowrentyieldmakessense(honest!)]

I went to my doctors with an ear problem. He seemed very keen to test for diabetes, although I had not presented any symptoms. I refused, sorted myself out with ear wax drops (which was the problem) and changed doctor.

A few years back I read that the doctor scored more points (and more funding) depending on what he diagnosed, with diabetes being high up the list.

Just made me wonder...

do you have a history of asthma in the family

they seem quite keen on diagnosing our three children with it everytime they have a severe cough

[Guest Noodle]

I can't believe the crappy, sugary, processed junk my colleagues bring into work. They on the other hand turn their nose up at my fresh fruit and plain yoghurt etc. and consider it (I suspect) a bit poofy.

[Tonkers]

do you have a history of asthma in the family

they seem quite keen on diagnosing our three children with it everytime they have a severe cough

No asthma. My new doctor just doesn't do this, it's great, she is also not overly keen on prescribing antibiotics for absolutey everything, like my last one.

[Daft Boy]

How?

My entire annual supply of metformin comes to 1000 Baht (£20).

Its amazing how cheap counterfeit medication is out in the far east

[Guest Noodle]

Its amazing how cheap counterfeit medication is out in the far east

This is real stuff. My old friend Ron in Buriram has the same, he's a retired surgeon from LA.

What I'm wondering is, how much is the UK paying for medicine which is very cheap anyway?

[Injin]

Ok so the recession is now down to fat people.

We've just got spaccers and the four eyed to go before it's the geeks and disabled who are up for it.

[Daft Boy]

This is real stuff. My old friend Ron in Buriram has the same, he's a retired surgeon from LA.

What I'm wondering is, how much is the UK paying for medicine which is very cheap anyway?

3 metformin a day = 1000 for the year. I bet the NHS does not get much change from £200. Is there a pharmacist on the forum ?

[Guest Noodle]

Ok so the recession is now down to fat people.

We've just got spaccers and the four eyed to go before it's the geeks and disabled who are up for it.

Actually . . . yesterday in fact . . . I was asked by a Thai industrialist what I thought were the biggest threats to the country's economic development. Included in my list was obesity and diabetes, which is also a terrible killer here (I know two from this village that died of it in the past 18 months). He agreed.

[StainlessSteelCat]

I believe the reason is they like to catch it early as possible because if left undiagnosed the consequences get worse and worse and therefore the costs.

Better to catch it earlier rather than later as the complications can be quite nasty (I know of one person who died of it in their early 30s - they were Type I and appallingly bad at managing it though).

I wasn't allowed to register at my local GP without a test. Type II in particular seems to be a bit of an epidemic and while it is a disease you are more likely to get as you get older there's a lot you can do to reduce the risk.

[Guest Noodle]

Better to catch it earlier rather than later as the complications can be quite nasty (I know of one person who died of it in their early 30s - they were Type I and appallingly bad at managing it though).

I wasn't allowed to register at my local GP without a test. Type II in particular seems to be a bit of an epidemic and while it is a disease you are more likely to get as you get older there's a lot you can do to reduce the risk.

I lost a colleague to Type 1 last year in the UK. She was a 30 something.

I'd had likely 3 years before Type 2 nearly took me away from irritating the hell out of you lot forever back in late 2008.

Needs to be caught early, managed with pills and diet you can get it in remission.

[Shrink Proof]

I believe the reason is they like to catch it early as possible because if left undiagnosed the consequences get worse and worse and therefore the costs.

Not only worse & worse (for which read nastier & MUCH nastier) but more & more expensive to treat too.

[roadtoruin]

3 metformin a day = 1000 for the year. I bet the NHS does not get much change from £200. Is there a pharmacist on the forum ?

Metformin (generic). 56-tab pack = £1.00 (2008 price in my BNF). More expensive if you buy branded (5 x price). But this is a very cheap drug and often combined with others that are MUCH more expensive as still on patent.

[Guest Noodle]

Not only worse & worse (for which read nastier & MUCH nastier) but more & more expensive to treat too.

Operations. Amputations. Heart failures . . . goes on all the way to death.

Very serious condition.

[Daft Boy]

Metformin (generic). 56-tab pack = £1.00 (2008 price in my BNF). More expensive if you buy branded (5 x price). But this is a very cheap drug and often combined with others that are MUCH more expensive as still on patent.

Many thanks for that info

[lets get it right]

do you have a history of asthma in the family

they seem quite keen on diagnosing our three children with it everytime they have a severe cough

It was a New Labour directive - All children must be on puffers by 2012.

It is not true that New Labour are funded by the puffer makers.

[mitchbux]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-10740224

The diabetic recovery.

Looks like the NHS is going to face some very tough choices over the coming years.

As wages make up the largest part of the NHS something is going to have to give.

The UK's lifestyle is unsustainable.

It's too easy for the docs to prescribe, and the patient to pop pills, instead of doing the right thing.

My mother is 'overweight', in truth obese. She has a hiatus hernia, which may have been caused by her weight, and would certainly require less medication (proton pump inhibitors) if she lost weight.

She has since developed AMD, which may have been a knock-on from taking the PPI's.

She also has a family history of Type II, which only seems to affect the overweight ones.

Her GP has recently put her on statins

At no point has any medical professional told her she MUST lose weight. :angry:

Pills, pills and more pills... appointment after appointment...

Time for both doctors and patients to face up to facts. Docs are going to have to start having difficult conversations with their patients, patients need to stop seeing pills as side effect free and the answer to everything.

Self-care and tough love could save the NHS a fortune.

[Dave Spart]

Fly to the Far East and you will very rarely see anyone over weight despite the excellent food on offer practically everywhere you go.

The west has become so spoiled that our diets largely consist of food and drink we previously used to consider rare treats.

Ironically it was during WWII that the nation enjoyed its best ever health; the need for both rationing and physical fitness saw to it.

[kzb]

Kids who used to be diagnosed with "bronchitis" are now diagnosed as asthmatic. If you add up the proportions of bronchitics and the asthmatics over the years a lot of the asthma epidemic disappears.

Type 2 diabetes -a certain degree of diabetes comes from aging. The test result action lines have been tightened up, and there are far more tests done, leading to far more diagnoses of type 2 diabietes than would've been the case in previous generations. Hence the type 2 diabetes epidemic.

Same with blood pressure. Huge numbers of people are on tablets for this, on the basis of measurements conducted on electronic blood pressure devices. But the statistics correlating blood pressure with heart disease come from the early 70's, when blood pressure was measured via a stethoscope under the cuff. The electronic devices consistently overread compared to the manual method. I'm not saying they are wrong, it's just there is a systematic difference between the methods.