The number of diabetes prescriptions has soared by 41 per cent in England over the past five years, a report from the NHS Information Centre has revealed.

Diabetes drugs now carry the highest cost of any group of medicines at £725 million and account for one in every 25 prescription items written.

Of the 38 million items prescribed for diabetes in 2010-11, two thirds were anti-diabetic drugs, the report said, while insulins were the second largest group of diabetes medicines.

And over the past five years the number of metformin prescriptions grew 70 per cent, with sulfonylureas increasing by a third and thiazolidinediones by 29 per cent.

The figures provided "further evidence of the increasing costs of long-term conditions to the NHS", PSNC warned. "Medicines waste continues to be a major factor in the spiralling cost of diabetes care," said PSNC head of NHS services Alastair Buxton. He added that the new medicine service could help to reduce this waste.

Health professionals should support the NHS in addressing diabetes, said Tim Straughan, chief executive of the NHS Information Centre. "Today's report paints a picture of an ever-increasing drugs bill to cope with the demands of society triggered by diabetes," he explained.

According to the most recent figures, diabetes now affects 4.3 per cent of adults in England compared with only 3.6 per cent in 2005-6.

Read the full report here.