Only a fifth of patients received education to treat their chronic condition, Stormont's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said.

Those affected need more advice on monitoring their food intake and exercise levels to prevent blindness, strokes, heart attacks and kidney damage, charity Diabetes UK added.

The PAC report said: "The potential consequences of not investing in such programmes are increased complications and greater future healthcare costs.

"It seems clear to the committee that this type of educational activity is likely to be cost-effective."

There are around 65,000 adults and 1,000 children with diabetes.

The committee accepted that the Department of Health can do little about familial or genetic predisposition to type 2 (later onset) diabetes. However, it said it was within the department's remit to establish performance targets around early detection and intervention.

The committee recommended the department consider setting targets to reduce the risk of people developing diabetes, cut the number of undiagnosed people and reduce the proportion of hospital admissions.

A spokeswoman for Diabetes UK Northern Ireland said: "Unfortunately it is a progressive condition and if you can get it earlier there's a much greater chance that you can avoid complications later.

"We would urge the Department of Health to take onboard the recommendations of the report and to increase the provision of structured diabetes education across Northern Ireland."