THE number of people with diabetes in Cornwall and Isles of Scilly is set to rise by more than 7,000 by 2020, health campaigners have warned.
Diabetes UK said 38,200 people in the county are living with the condition, expected to rise to 45,900 in the coming eight years.
The analysis, based on data from the Yorkshire & Humber Public Health Observatory, shows that 4.4 million people across the UK are projected to have the condition by 2020 – a rise of 700,000.
The charity has warned that the costs of providing healthcare will spiral, with the NHS already spending 10 per cent of its budget on treating the condition.
Unless more resources are targeted at preventing type 2 diabetes more people will develop the condition risking amputation, blindness, kidney failure and stroke.
Graham Cooper, Diabetes UK south west regional manager, said: "We face the very real prospect of the rise in the number of people with the condition combining with NHS budget pressures to create a perfect storm that threatens to bankrupt the NHS.
"The Government and the NHS do not seem to have grasped the scale of the impending crisis and at the moment we seem to be sleepwalking towards it. But the crucial point is that it is still not too late to take the action needed to avert it."