Diabetics failed by doctors

HALF of the 1.2 million Australians with type 2 diabetes are suffering major complications, including blindness, kidney disease and limb amputations, because of poor treatment by GPs, a new report finds.

Diabetes is the most common reason for people to reach end stage renal disease or need a kidney transplant, and it is the most common cause of blindness and limb amputations not brought on by a severe trauma. It is responsible for one in 10 deaths.

Despite this, a new report has found one in three people or 550,000 with diabetes don’t know they have the disease and another two million Australians are at risk of developing it.

Worse still, only one in three people diagnosed with the illness get the regular medical check-ups they need to keep the illness under control.

While people may have a strong genetic disposition towards type 2 diabetes, the risk is greatly increased if people display a number of modifiable lifestyle factors including high blood pressure, overweight or obesity, insufficient physical activity, poor diet and the classic “apple shape” body where extra weight is carried around the waist.

The failure of doctors to properly manage the illness is affecting patient’s quality of life, causing deaths.

Sydney University professor Stephen Colagiuri, who authored the report, says there is a Medicare rebate for a diabetes annual cycle of care, a checklist GPs should use to manage patients.

The checklist sets out the minimum level of care a person with diabetes should receive and includes an annual check of blood sugar levels, cholesterol, kidneys, weight, blood pressure and an eye and foot check every two years.

However, only 51 per cent of people with diabetes had their blood sugar levels checked by their doctor each year and just 37 per cent had all the standard checks, his report found.

Of those people who were checked, only half were keeping their blood glucose levels under control and less than half met targets for managing weight, cholesterol and blood pressure.

“Overall the data indicates that many people with diagnosed diabetes in Australia are not receiving expected stan- dards of diabetes care,” he said.

The consequences of poor diabetes management are that one in five people develop diabetic eye disease, one in four develop nerve damage, weakness and pain, one in three develop kidney disease and one in eight get heart disease.

Prof Colagiuri says a diabetes management program was set up by the former Rudd Government and showed positive results but it was not taken forward after a change of government.