The number of items prescribed for treating diabetes in England increased by 21 million between 2015-16 and 2023-24, according to the latest official figures.

The NHS Business Services Authority said 71 million items were prescribed in 2023-24 at a cost of £1.67 billion, 15 per cent of the total spend on all prescribed items.

In 2015-16, diabetes items cost £960 million which accounted for 10 per cent of total spending. The most prescribed drugs used to treat diabetes in 2023-24 were antidiabetic drugs. The data revealed 53 million items were prescribed at a cost of £960 million.

Since 2015-16, the costs of antidiabetic drugs has increased by 127 per cent from £420 million.

The NHSBSA also said 3.6 million “identified patients” were prescribed items used in diabetes, a seven per cent rise on the 3.4 million “identified” patients in 2022-23 and 34 per cent increase on 2.7 million in 2015-16.

Males in the 60 to 64 age group were most commonly prescribed diabetes items in 2023-24, with 270,000 “identified” patients receiving items.

The highest number of patients prescribed items lived in deprived parts of the country, with 340,000 more patients coming from those areas than patients in least deprived areas.