We know many of you will have seen the news yesterday reporting on the new statistic published that shows that 26% of those who have died from coronavirus in England had diabetes. We wanted to give you as much information as we currently have about this data, as well as update you on what we’re doing to support you
What the coronavirus statistics tell us
The statistic released on Thursday showed that one in four people (26%) who have died in hospital in England following a diagnosis of coronavirus also had diabetes. The data also showed that the other most common conditions relating to deaths from coronavirus are dementia (18%), serious breathing problems (15%) and chronic kidney disease (14%). One in 10 (10%) suffered from ischaemic heart disease.We know that if you’re living with diabetes, or care for someone that does, you may be worried about what this statistic means for you – but we need to understand more about the detail that sits behind the numbers.
What the statistics don't tell us
This new data reports on the proportion of people who died from coronavirus who had diabetes, but it doesn’t say anything about what type of diabetes they had, how old they were, or what other health conditions they may have had.This means that it raises more questions than it answers at the moment. We need to know much more about the potential risks of coronavirus infection for people with diabetes, and for this to be used so that advice from government can be tailored to meet your needs and keep you safe.
There have been some studies published suggesting a link between diabetes and increased risk of death from coronavirus, but it’s still very early days for scientific understanding and a lot of questions raised by the NHS England statistic still remain. It’s incredibly important that the government continues to review this latest research on coronavirus and diabetes and bases its policies on the best evidence. We’ll continue to review the evidence and data that is published to ensure we’re sharing the most up to date information with you.
What does the UK Government need to do?
The government needs to urgently review all of the emerging evidence and data about the risks to people with diabetes, to inform their policies around social distancing, employment guidance, and any measures around easing lockdown.Most importantly, the government must ensure that their policies consider the specific needs and individual risks of people with diabetes, so that they are protected and supported, and provided with clear and consistent advice on keeping safe.
In addition to calling on government to urgently review the emerging evidence, we want them to ensure the two following things.
People with diabetes must be kept safe at work
People with diabetes should not be put in a situation that puts them at risk at work. Employers must put measures in place to keep people with diabetes safe, either by supporting people to work at home, or where this is not possible by putting people with diabetes on furlough, or by putting measures in place to allow stringent social distancing for those key workers who absolutely must be at work.The government must ensure this guidance for employers is clear, consistent, and enforced so it is focused on the safety of their employees above all else. We’ve heard loud and clear that safety at work is one of your biggest concerns. We need to make sure that the new government workplace guidelines work for people with diabetes.
People with diabetes must be able to access support to manage their diabetes and keep themselves safe
Having access to healthy food is important to people with diabetes and this has not always been easy when there has been such pressure on delivery slots. We are raising this matter urgently. It’s also important that people with diabetes have access to other forms of support, for example to help with collecting medication from pharmacies where needed and for transport to urgent hospital appointments, which can’t be conducted remotely.Health and social care services are dealing with a challenging situation and must be supported to ensure people with diabetes can continue to access the services, information and care they need during this difficult time, including emotional and psychological support.
What about shielding?
We need to know much more about the potential risks for people with diabetes so that advice can be tailored, and this is particularly important in relation to shielding.It’s incredibly important that advice around shielding is proportionate, and so equally important that the advice is balanced against the level of risk. The psychological implications of shielding – by asking everyone with diabetes to essentially cut themselves off for many months – could be very great.
Equally, the impact on diabetes management – either through the stress of being shielded, or by restricting someone’s ability to go outside – could also be significant. It’s important to remember that everyone with diabetes is different, so without robust evidence to support it, a blanket call for everyone with diabetes to be shielded wouldn’t be appropriate.
That’s why it is so important that we have the most detailed picture of what the emerging evidence is telling us, and that government bases their advice on what the science tells us.
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