Kingston has one of London’s highest rates of people who have not been tested for diabetes, a charity has claimed.

Health charity Diabetes UK has warned that nearly 3,000 people in Kingston may be unaware they have the debilitating type 2 strand of diabetes, which can cause blindness, amputation and heart disease.

These people make up 35 per cent of the total number in the people in the borough thought to have type 2 diabetes, which is the fourth highest rate of undiagnosed cases of London’s 32 health authorities.

Roz Rosenblatt, Diabetes UK London manager, said the figures were “truly alarming” and that more people needed to get themselves tested.

She said: “PCTs need to better prioritise screening of at-risk groups and improve uptake of programmes such as NHS Health Checks.

“We face a bleak future of spiralling NHS costs and worsening public health if diagnosis rates for type 2 diabetes do not improve.”

The new estimates come from Diabetes Health Intelligence3, a strategic programme of Yorkshire and Humber Public Health Observatory.

Diabetes UK is asking residents to take an online test to determine their risk of diabetes at diabetes.org.uk/riskscore.