The Telegraph reports that a NHS study found a move to remote healthcare and a reduction in routine care in the first 12 months of the pandemic had “absolutely devastating” consequences for diabetics and resulted in them being “pushed to the back of the queue,” in the words of Chris Askew, the chief executive of Diabetes UK.
A lack of diabetes checks following the first Covid lockdown may have killed more than 3,000 people, a major NHS study suggests https://t.co/Ubmy8YxWM8
— The Telegraph (@Telegraph) May 31, 2022
The study found that in the course of just under four months, non-Covid deaths among diabetics soared by 11 per cent, resulting in 3075 excess deaths, with a particular surge in deaths from heart disease.
The research also reveals that during 2020/21 only just over a quarter of diabetics were able to get full check ups on the NHS, down from close to half the previous year.
The study, which has been published in Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology, also found a whopping 66 percent increase in mortality rates for those who were unable to get full checks.
The figures are said to be conservative estimates because the analysis only compared deaths in England for two 15-week periods.
Researchers said some diabetes patients may have kept away from appointments because of the fear of catching Covid. But they added that disrupted access to routine care and “repurposing of the healthcare workforce” to focus on the pandemic meant those with diabetes took “a double mortality hit”.
The findings add to the already extensive research outlining how lockdowns, while having little to no effect on the COVID pandemic, had devastating health, economic and social consequences.
(...) Summit News . The Telegraph
