Healthier Lives: Diabetes, Hypertension and NHS Health Check, is a major new online tool from Public Health England, which reveals large variation in the prevalence and treatment of diabetes and high blood pressure, and in the provision of the NHS Health Check across the country. The Healthier Lives atlas shows mapped variation against the England average for diabetes, hypertension and health checks. The data allows people to see easily how their local authority, CCG and GP surgery are performing and how this varies across the country compared to the England average. Visit the Healthier Lives website for further information.
The interactive ‘heat map’ includes information on prevalence of the conditions and their complications, levels of care provided and the quality of care achieved in each area by local authority (LA), clinical commissioning group (CCG) and general practice, compared to the England average.
The data from Healthier Lives shows that treatment targets are being met for only 1 in 3 people with diabetes. There are 3 treatment targets – controlling blood pressure (hypertension); blood sugar and cholesterol. Across the country nowhere is meeting all 3 targets well – the average is 36% and the best is 48%. Meeting treatment targets, alongside care processes such as foot checks, ensures that the disease is being successfully managed and reduces the risk of future complications such as major amputations. Approximately 120 people with diabetes have a limb amputated each week.
