Mansfield tops diabetes rates

People in Mansfield and Ashfield are eight times more likely to suffer an amputation due to lifestyle than residents in other parts of the country.

The districts had 4.9 per 1,000 adults with diabetes, eight times more than Brent, north-west London, with only 0.6 per 1,000 patients in the past three years.

Joint highest was the Scarborough area of Yorkshire, which also had 49 out of every thousand people in the area losing a limb due to diabetes.

Overall, the number of patients having an amputation is on the increase.

According to the Hospital Episode Statistics and Quality and Outcomes Framework, there were 19,066 amputations carried out between 2009-12, and 22,109 between 2012-15 - an increase of 3,043.

The news comes after health experts warned that one in 10 adults in the UK will be at risk of developing diabetes by 2035.

For the first time, Public Health England forecasts the number of people with the disease could top five million if obesity rates continue to increase.

About 90 per cent of patients have type 2 diabetes, which is linked to being overweight.

A separate analysis states that the cost of treating the UK’s “diabetes epidemic” could soar to 17 per cent of the NHS budget.

Experts are warning the burden of treating diabetes, especially new cases of type 2, could bankrupt the NHS.

In 2015, there were around 3.8 million people living with diabetes in England alone.

If obesity rates remain stable, Public Health England predicts that by 2035 that figure could have leapt to 4.9 million.

But if obesity rates increase by 3 per cent every five years, an extra 263,000 people will have developed diabetes by 2035, putting the overall figure at more than five million.

Chris Askew, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said: “As things stand we are certainly looking at a crisis in diabetes which threatens to bankrupt the NHS if we continue with these current trends. I believe we’re facing a crisis and we really need concerted action right across society.”