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The number of people diagnosed with diabetes has increased to more than 3.2m, says Diabetes UK.

Extracted from NHS data, the new figures show that there were 3,208,014 adults with the condition in 2013, an increase of more than 163,000 compared to 2012 – the biggest increase in a single year since 2008. One in 17 people are now diagnosed with diabetes.

This big increase confirms that we are in the middle of an unfolding public health disaster that demands urgent action, says Barbara Young, chief executive of Diabetes UK. The charity is calling on local NHS organisations to commit to:

• Fully implementing the NHS Health Check programme
• Ensuring everyone with diabetes is offered education
• Increasing the proportion of people with diabetes getting the nine annual checks
• Urgently improving hospital care for people with diabetes.

“Firstly, we need more focus on preventing type 2 diabetes, as this is the only way we can bring the rapid rise in diabetes cases under control. This means properly implementing NHS Health Checks so we can identify more people at high risk and then making sure they get the support they need to reduce that risk.

“But as well as doing more to prevent type 2 [diabetes], we need to get much better at treating diabetes because the level of priority the NHS gives the condition does not reflect the size of the shadow it is casting over our nation’s health.”