In 2022/23, there were 66 million drug items used in treating diabetes prescribed in England for a cost of £1.53 billion, 15 per cent of the total spend on all prescription items prescribed in England.
A new NHS repost shows that there was an increase of 16 million items and £570 million from 2015/16 where 50 million diabetes items were prescribed in England for a cost of £960 million, representing 10 per cent of the total spend on all prescription items.
Antidiabetic drugs were the most prescribed drugs used in treating diabetes in England in 2022/23 with 49 million items at a cost of £880 million.
The costs of antidiabetic drugs have also increased by 107 per cent since 2015/16 from £420 million.
There were 3.4 million identified people that were prescribed drugs used in diabetes in England in 2022/23.
This was a six per cent increase from 3.2 million identified people in 2021/22, and a 26 per cent increase from 2.7 million in 2015/16.
The most common group to receive prescribing for drugs used in diabetes in 2022/23 were males, aged 60 to 64, with 250,000 identified people. The next most common groups were males aged 65 to 69, and males aged 70 to 74.
Areas of greater deprivation had the highest number of identified people who were being prescribed drugs used in treating diabetes in 2022/23.
There were 320,000 more patients in the most deprived areas of the country, compared to the least deprived.
To read the full report, click here.
