Today the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced the government’s spending plans as part of the Spending Review. This is where the government plans how much money will be given to public services, such as healthcare, police and councils.
Our Cheque for Tech campaign, which saw thousands of our supporters contact their MPs, called on the government to provide ring-fenced funding for diabetes technology. Rishi Sunak announced £559 million extra funding for ‘modernising technology’ in the NHS.
This is a great start, but we need to know that people with diabetes will benefit from this important investment.
We’re calling on Matt Hancock, the Health Secretary, to make sure that diabetes technology is at the front of the queue. We know that this money will not give everyone with diabetes access to life-changing technologies, but it can help make a real difference to those who need it most.
What else did the government say?
The government have also committed to spending £3 billion to help the NHS through the coronavirus pandemic, providing more mental health support and to reduce waiting times for regular healthcare.
The government have also provided £25.8 million to fund ‘Healthy Start’ vouchers for families with young children, so they can eat healthily. This is an important step to prevent childhood obesity, and we know that obesity is one of the main risk factors of type 2 diabetes.
Additionally, the government have provided £15 billion to fund health and science research. This is positive news, and may help to bring about life-changing breakthroughs in care, treatment and prevention of diabetes of all forms.
Nikki Joule, Policy Manager at Diabetes UK, said:
"The ongoing impact of the pandemic has seen our health services stretched beyond measure, so it is great to see the need for additional funding recognised, so that the NHS can begin to ease waiting lists, support mental health and modernise technology.
"But it’s important that people with diabetes, who we know have been disproportionately affected by the virus, are able to benefit from this extra funding, in order to be kept safe and well now and in the future. We need urgent clarity and further details from Government on how this money will be used to ensure that people with diabetes are not forgotten."
