Heywood campaigners meet Liz Mclnnes MP about diabetes research underfunding

Liz Mclnnes MP, Debbie Goldrick and Janet Lees

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Two Heywood campaigners have met with Liz Mclnnes MP to call on her to help improve the poor state of diabetes research funding.

Friends Janet Lees, 74, and Debbie Goldrick, 56, who both have Type 2 diabetes, attended a special tour of a diabetes research lab at King’s College London, along with Heywood and Middleton MP Liz Mclnnes. The group saw ground-breaking research into treatments to help prevent and improve the management of the condition, which are being funded by Diabetes UK who arranged the trip.

There are currently 3.9 million people living with diabetes in the UK and five million people are projected to have the condition by 2025. Diabetes can have a huge impact on people’s lives and can lead to serious complications such as blindness, amputation and stroke and early death, which are not only personally devastating but are also extremely costly to the health service. Diabetes cost the NHS £10 billion annually, which amounts to 10 percent of the entire NHS budget.

Despite the increasing numbers of people living with diabetes and the huge burden it places on the NHS, for every £1 the NHS spends managing diabetes, the UK invests just over half a penny on diabetes research, which is less investment than other major health conditions.

Janet and Debbie have been campaigning with Liz to get the local diabetic retinopathy screening service in Heywood, which was closed last October, reinstated. A petition in support of their campaign has so far secured over 1000 signatures. While they await the outcome of a public consultation on the closure of the service, they are also keen to raise awareness of the importance of funding for diabetes research.

This is why they have urged Liz McInnes MP to become a champion for diabetes research funding both locally and in Parliament. Liz is calling for more support from the Government to help ensure world class diabetes research is carried out in institutions across the UK.

Janet Lees said: “I was delighted to meet with Liz Mclnnes MP as it gave me the chance to raise my concerns about poor diabetes research funding.

“I have lived with diabetes for six years and the condition has had a huge impact on my life. Managing diabetes can be a daily struggle and too many people develope devastating health complications or die before their time. This is why I have directly appealed to Liz Mclnnes to raise awareness about the issue and help ensure that we continue to invest in diabetes research funding.”

Debbie Goldrick said: “It’s great to have Liz McInnes’ support on our campaign to get the retinopathy screening service in Heywood reopened. The campaign is ongoing and has got a lot of support from people in the area but we also think it’s really important to raise awareness of the need for more diabetes research funding, which is why we have raised our concerns about this directly with Liz.”

Liz Mclnnes said: “It was really good to meet with Janet and Debbie to hear about their concerns about the poor state of diabetes funding. They both made it clear that the research Diabetes UK is funding at King’s College London will help us better understand diabetes, bring about life-changing breakthroughs in treatment and prevention, and in doing so will transform millions of lives and save the NHS money.

“The potential of diabetes research is huge but the area is underfunded and trails behind other major health conditions in terms of investment. This is why we need support from the Government so that the lifesaving research being carried out at King’s College London is replicated in institutions across the country.”

Dr Alasdair Rankin, Diabetes UK Director of Research, said: “The world class research that we are funding at King’s College London, as well other institutions throughout the UK, has the potential to make a huge difference to lives of everyone affected by diabetes.

“The impact of the condition on people’s lives and on the NHS is colossal, but this is not reflected by the amount of funding diabetes research receives. This is why we want to see more support from the Government to encourage diabetes research investment so that we are fully meeting the huge challenges that diabetes presents.

“Diabetes is an extremely important health issue that is affecting more and more people so it is essential that we are funding research that can lead to improvements in treatment and prevention, and ultimately bring us closer to a cure.”

Diabetes UK is the UK’s leading charitable funder of diabetes research. The charity funds research into Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.