Diabetes care is about to get even worse me thinks.

Problems in A&E wards are “overshadowing” a crisis in general practice, family doctors have warned, as 80 per cent of GPs say they no longer have the resources to provide high-quality care. In the latest of a succession of polls to reveal widespread discontent within the profession, the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) found that 70 per cent of GPs are forecasting longer waiting times over the next two years, as surgeries cut staff and services in a response to a slow-down in Government funding.


Dr Clare Gerada, chair of the RCGP, said that general practice needed an emergency funding package, like the one announced to sure-up struggling accident and emergency wards last week.

“GPs are grappling with a  double-whammy of spiralling workloads and dwindling resources, and big cracks are now starting to appear in the care and services that we can deliver for our patients,” she said. “We are particularly concerned about the effect this is having, and will continue to have, on waiting times for GP appointments.”

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When you consider how bad diabetes care is for many reporting on forums and blogs, and the diet of slow death being pushed by most healthcare pro’s, can it actually get much worse ? OK it is going to get much worse check out story two on this post.

'Largest-ever’ diabetes awareness campaign to urge high-risk patients to visit their GP

"People at high risk of of type 2 diabetes will be urged to see their GP to get a blood test under a £2m campaign run in thousands of pharmacies that will begin next month.  The Diabetes UK campaign - backed by supermarket giant Tesco - will use radio and digital advertising, as well as ‘outdoor’ publicity, such as on bus routes and in shopping centres, to encourage people to take an online risk assessment at pharmacies and then go to their GP for a blood test if they are deemed to be at risk.

The two-week campaign - the largest the charity has ever run - will be rolled out in September through over 5,000 pharmacies in areas with populations known to be at high risk of type 2 diabetes, in particular those with large black and ethnic minority populations and high levels of deprivation. Areas targeted include several inner and outer London boroughs, a number of cities in the midlands and the north of England as well as Cardiff, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Diabetes UK estimates there are around 850,000 people with undiagnosed diabetes in the UK and many more who are likely to go on and develop the condition in the next few years, yet awareness of the condition and its complications remains very low amongst those most at risk."

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So, a system already creaking at the joints, and unable to effectively deal with diabetes at present, wants to find more. Diabetes care is about to get even worse me thinks. Who knows, this might turn out for the best. One day soon there will be no money for junk type two diabetes meds. Already many cannot get a test strip on prescription. With the economic climate many diabetics cannot afford to buy test strips. How long before lack of money and the ever rising number of diabetics force the NHS to recommend low carb, because there will be no alternative.

 How many of the 850,000 do they need to find to completely overwhelm the system ?

Eddie