Last night I was delighted to lead a debate in parliament on the future of diabetes care.
As vice chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Diabetes and a former NHS worker I have a keen interest in the issue, and I secured the parliamentary debate following the recent publication of the Diabetes UK report ‘The Future of Diabetes’.
Around 4.5 million people in the UK live with diabetes, and it’s important we talk about treatment, prevention and the future of diabetes care.
During the debate I made two requests to the government Minister. First, that we build on progress being made through the NHS Diabetes Programme and commit to sustained transformation funding, at current levels of £44 million a year, until at least 2021. And secondly that we strengthen the Childhood Obesity Plan, including measures on labelling and junk food marketing.
It’s so important that as well as making sure we fund care and treatment for current diabetes patients, we also do all we can to protect future generations, and with ‘millennials’ predicted to be the most obese generation yet it is vital that the government acts now to avoid a diabetes health crisis in the future.
