Diabetes: 10-Year Health Plan

Lord Patel Excerpts

Thursday 26th June 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

The matter of health inequalities is, obviously, one we are very concerned about. A national review is currently under way to update on monitoring, including of various groups. NHS England supports ICBs in improving diabetes care, including through the use of the medical technologies that the noble Baroness referred to, and, importantly, in reducing the variation in care that we still see across the country. It does that by using national data and insights, funding local clinical needs and addressing health inequalities through the national diabetes prevention programme. I certainly agree with the noble Baroness about the importance of raising awareness and the incredible contribution that new technology is playing. It has to be available for all and I hope we will establish that in the way I have mentioned.

[Lord Patel (CB)]

My Lords, I declare an interest as a patron of the South Asian Health Foundation. The south Asian population has a very high incidence of diabetes, particularly type 1, which is probably related to a strong gene marker. Some 50% of people with type 1 diabetes have some kind of gene marker. Those who have a strong gene marker in a particular region, the HLA region of chromosome 6, have a very high incidence. My point is that, if we screen people, particularly those with a family history of diabetes, for genetic markers, we will identify them much earlier, even in childhood. The prevention that is therefore required—changing their environment and diet—becomes more effective. This ought to be one of the preventive strategies for diabetes in high-risk populations.

[Baroness Merron (Lab)]

The noble Lord is quite right in his observations, which play to the point of the NHS that we want to see not just now but in the future. Noble Lords may have heard the announcement earlier this week that the Government are committing the necessary funding to screen babies early in their lives through the use of genomics, in order to, as the noble Lord said, identify underlying conditions that can be dealt with early on. There are some that cannot be prevented, but if they are diagnosed and anticipated, their management will be much better.