Doctors looking for diabetes have misdiagnosed approximately 100,000 people in England, latest research has shown.

A report revealed that around half of this figure were informed that they have the condition when they do not while the other half were told they had the wrong type of diabetes to what they actually have. For example, some people were told they have Type 1 diabetes when in fact they have Type 2 diabetes and vice versa.

It was revealed that for every 500 people said to have the disease on a GP register, some 65 to 70 of them will need to have their classification checked for some sort of error.

Calls have been made by experts at the Royal College of GPs and NHS Diabetes for there to be a change in the system that records how diabetes is monitored. They have produced new guidelines in an attempt to drive up standards in this area.

Some of the errors are caused by mistakes made when entering information, but some are down to a lack of understanding among doctors or other staff, the report said.

Such errors can have a "considerable impact on patient care" while "accurate diagnosis is critical for the appropriate treatment for the person with diabetes", the report said.

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