‘Our goal is clear’: meeting reveals costs of diabetes

New research estimates that a patient in western Sydney with type 2 diabetes racks up more than $16,000 a year in costs linked to the condition.

If there are complications associated with the condition, the disease-related costs can spiral to more than $22,000 per person.

PricewaterhouseCoopers partner Nathan Schlesinger told a Western Sydney Diabetes Leaders Alliance meeting in Blacktown today (October 25) that there was a strong business case to be made for greater investment in treatment and prevention.

“We can only shift the dial on diabetes if we scale-up the interventions,” he said.

“To do this, we need funds and investment.”

Blacktown Hospital Professor Glen Maberly, a driving force behind the alliance and WSLHD’s diabetes lead, told the meeting accurate information was vital in the battle against diabetes.

“We need good data if we are going to make the case clearly,” Prof Maberly said.

“Our goal is clear: to keep people healthy and prevent them moving towards diabetes with complications.

“Our alliance now has 80 members wanting to align their efforts to tackle diabetes and its causes.”

The alliance meeting heard people with diabetes were three times more likely to suffer heart disease while 75 per cent of people with diabetes die from heart disease and stroke.