7. Will the First Minister make a statement on the number of people in Wales with type 2 diabetes? OAQ52022

The national diabetes audit, which is part of the clinical audit programme for the NHS in Wales, indicates there were approximately 178,000 people registered with type 2 diabetes in Wales in the 2016-17 reporting year.

Can I thank the First Minister for that response? Genes do play a part in type 2 diabetes, but lifestyle choices are also very important. You can, for example, have a genetic mutation that may make you susceptible to type 2, but if you take good care of your body you may not develop diabetes. Will the Welsh Government consider introducing a national prevention week for type 2 diabetes? 

Let me just give the Member a flavour of what we're doing. Of course we recognise the importance of prevention. We're aware of the NHS England programme. We don't think that this is right for Wales, because we know that obesity is a risk factor for a number of diseases, therefore a disease-specific approach is not warranted. We know also the evidence base for the effectiveness of a diabetes prevention programme is disputed. We do need to do something, clearly, so a broader and multifaceted approach is required; we know that. So, how will that be done? Well, the forthcoming obesity strategy will aim to put a strong focus upon prevention, and that will include exploring how we can scale messages across the population—I think a better way is to say, 'How we can tell people', actually, rather than putting it that way—by working with a range of partners, including with health boards, through delivery of obesity pathways. 

First Minister, at the recent cross-party group on diabetes we heard that just about 100 new diabetes nurses are being introduced in England. We don't have any here. Even though, of course, insulin pumps are given by the NHS to people with diabetes if they need them urgently, without the specialist nurses there's no guarantee that they're being used correctly. Bearing in mind that we get more money per head in Wales than in England, I wonder what consideration has been given to introducing diabetes nurses here. Obviously, we don't have to do exactly the same as England, but I would like to get some reassurance from you that they've been considered. 

Well, Diabetes Cymru are members of the chief medical officer's obesity strategy group, so they are able to inform Government of what they think is the best way of dealing with diabetes. I can say that we do continue to invest record amounts in diabetes care, from £76 million in 2009-10 to more than £111 million in 2016-17. Actually, it's been estimated that about 10 per cent of NHS expenditure goes on treating diabetes. The way forward is outlined in our diabetes delivery plan. That was updated and republished in December of last year and that will take us through to 2020.   

I was very pleased that the Welsh Government had agreed to support a Plaid Cymru amendment to the public health Bill recently, which means that a strategy to tackle obesity is being developed at the moment. Now, given that we know that obesity can lead to type 2 diabetes, and that diabetes takes up so much of the funding of the health service—as much as 10 per cent of all the money spent on the health service, in fact—do you, as First Minister, agree that investing significant funds in preventing obesity in order to prevent many type 2 diabetes cases, far more than is currently being invested, is entirely essential if we’re to save money for the health service in the long term?

Well, I’ve alluded to the fact that 10 per cent of the funding goes on diabetes. We know that obesity—and I don’t speak as someone who has any kind of experience of this, of course—impacts diabetes. That is why we are developing a national diabetes strategy. The health service in Wales has a number of pathways in place already—an obesity pathway in order to support people in order to reduce their risk of developing things such as diabetes.