The government must ensure the treatment of long-term conditions is a priority within healthcare, as the number of patients diagnosed with diabetes increased 25 per cent in just four years, the King's Fund has warned.   

In a a report published on Wednesday, the think tank called for the government to "reaffirm its commitment" to the management of long-term conditions and warned that strategies inherited under the previous government to manage diabetes and COPD needed to be "pushed harder".

Government strategies to manage COPD and diabetes need to be "pushed harder", said the King's Fund

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The King's Fund report, which assessed the coalition government's achievement in health policy, said people with long-term conditions had experienced "variable quality" across England in the care they received. Greater focus was needed to treat and support "the rising numbers of people with multiple chronic conditions", the report said, pointing out that the number of people with diabetes rose 25 per cent between 2006-07 and 2010-11, while the number of people with chronic kidney disease rose by 45 per cent during the same period.

"This situation cannot be tackled in a single parliamentary term. A seven to 10-year commitment is needed to ensure that policies have time to generate significant impact," it said.

Pharmacists had "a key role to play" in supporting patients with diabetes, charity Diabetes UK told C+D in response to the King's Fund report, as they were the health professionals diabetes patients talked to most often.  

Pharmacists had "an opportunity to talk to the person about their general health, to discuss how they are controlling their blood glucose levels and to pick up warning signs of diabetes-related complications", said Diabetes UK director of policy and care improvement Bridget Turner.

In its mandate to the NHS last month, the government cited the treatment of long-term conditions as one of the challenges faced by the health service.