WITH one person diagnosed with diabetes every two minutes and 4.5m people currently living with the condition today, diabetes represents one of the most significant health challenges facing individuals and the NHS.

In the Liverpool City Region there are more than 89,000 people diagnosed with diabetes and thousands who are at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

Diabetes is serious.

One-in-six hospital admissions for heart failure, heart attack and stroke are in people with the condition.

It is responsible for more than 20 leg, foot or toe amputations every day, is the leading cause of kidney failure and every year, and in England and Wales more than 24,000 people die prematurely due to diabetes.

There needs to be urgent action to ensure we live in a region where diabetes can do no harm.

We hope that the newly-elected mayor for Liverpool City Region, Steve Rotherham, will help make this happen and use his position to help make diabetes a priority for healthcare services and local government in the region and raise awareness of the condition in our communities.

Stephen Ryan, Head of the North, Diabetes UK.