The cost and number of drugs prescribed to treat diabetes in England rose by more than 40% in the past five years, new figures show.
A report published today by the NHS Information Centre shows that just over 35.5 million prescription items were dispensed to treat diabetes in 2009-10 at a net ingredient cost of nearly £650 million.
This was a 43% increase over five years in items and a 42% rise in net ingredient cost, compared to 2004-05 when 24.8 million items were dispensed at a net ingredient cost of £458.6 million.
The figures contained in the report Prescribing for Diabetes in England: 2004/5 to 2009/10, refer to prescribing in primary care in England.
These figures show the headline cost (net ingredient cost) of medicines before the deduction of discount or charges paid and therefore do not represent the actual cost to the NHS. The Centre said that, despite this, many overall messages were similar.
Prescriptions for diabetes are growing as a proportion of the overall cost of prescribing in primary care.
The report showed that the cost of prescribing for diabetes represented 7.7% of the total cost of prescribing in primary care in 2009-10, compared to 5.8% in 2004-5.
There was a 73% increase in items prescribed of the drug metformin – the first choice drug for oral therapy as recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence – from 7.6 million items in 2004-5 to 13.2 million items in 2009-10.
Over the same period the total net ingredient cost rose by 161% from £23.2 million to £60.5 million.
There are an estimated 2.2 million people in England who have diabetes and the prevalence of diabetes increased from 3.3% in 2004-05 to 4.1% in 2008-9.
NHS Information Centre chief executive Tim Straughan said: “This report provides an insight into both national and local prescribing patterns for what is an increasingly prevalent condition in England.
“It shows that both the total prescription items being dispensed to treat diabetes have increased markedly and the total net ingredient cost to the NHS of those items has increased by almost £200 million since 2004-5.
“The relatively high cost of some of the newer drugs used to treat diabetes is partly why the net ingredient cost bill has increased by 42% in five years while overall prescribing costs have only risen by 6% during the same time period.”
Simon O’Neill, director of care, information and advocacy at charity Diabetes UK, said: “This large rise in cost of diabetes drug prescriptions and costs appears to be equally due to the far greater population of people with diabetes and to the wider prescribing of newer and more expensive therapies.
“The long-term costs of poor diabetes management i.e. care for someone who’s had a heart attack or stroke, lost their sight or lower limb, far outweigh those of the drugs that help prevent such devastating complications.”