By Daily Mail Reporter
PUBLISHED: 17:51 EST, 13 August 2013 | UPDATED: 17:51 EST, 13 August 2013
The number of prescriptions for diabetes drugs has soared by more than half to a record 42.5 million in less than a decade.
Official figures reveal a 57 per cent rise from 27.1 million in only seven years in England.
In the same period, the cost of the medicines increased by nearly half from £514million to £764.1 million last year.
This is costing the Health Service an extra £250 million a year to treat the country's 3 million diabetics.
The report from the Health and Social Care Information Centre said the rise in prescriptions and bills is driven by the increasing prevalence of diabetes.
Other factors include greater use of newer and more costly medicines.
Experts believe another 850,000 people are unaware they have the condition.
However, increasing numbers have been identified since the start of a system rewarding GPs financially for diagnosing and treating patients.
Items for diabetes now account for 9.3 per cent of the total cost of prescribing in the NHS and 4.3 per cent of all items.
This compares with 6.6 per cent of the bill and 3.8 per cent of items in 2005-6.
Simon O'Neill, director for health intelligence at the charity Diabetes UK, said more investment is needed to ensure that patients receive the right treatment earlier.
This would help cut the estimated £8billion a year spent on treating the complications of the condition, he said.
Nine out of ten of patients have type 2 diabetes, when the body cannot process blood sugar. This leads to high levels which can damage organs and lead to years of ill-health.
Type 2 is strongly linked to lifestyle factors, including being overweight, eating a poor diet and not exercising enough.
According to Diabetes UK, 24,000 people with diabetes in England and Wales die early each year because of the condition.
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