The Front Page podcast: Behind the rising tide of diabetes amputations

Cliff Barnard, a diabetes patient who has just had an amputation. Photo / Michael Craig

Each week The Front Page takes you behind the scenes of the biggest story from the New Zealand Herald and Newstalk ZB. Today it's the shocking rise of amputations caused by diabetes. Hosted by Frances Cook.

In New Zealand, a first-world country, people are losing limbs when they don't need to.

They are suffering from diabetes, and a medical system overwhelmed with patients isn't able to keep up.

Crucial preventive care is missed, leading to infection, amputation, and sometimes death.

Investigative journalist Nick Jones has found that, in the past four years, New Zealand has had more lower-limb amputee cases from diabetes than were performed on returned soldiers from World War I.

The cases have increased 40 per cent over the past 10 years, and are now approaching 1000 per year.

On this week's Front Page podcast, host Frances Cook talks to Nick about how he uncovered this story, the balance between sensitivity and the raw truth, and what needs to happen next.

For the interview, watch the video.

To read more from Nick's series, you can see the story of our hidden amputation shame here, or read the personal trauma of Pam Abraham's amputation here.

If you like to stay up to date on social media, you can find host Frances Cook on Facebook here, Instagram here and Twitter here.