Libre Funding

[MarkGeordie]

My DSN telephone appointment was 23rd March 2020 and the DSN agreed she was recommending they seek funding for a Libre for me. I was just curious, do you think it’s worth chasing or do they generally take a long time to get approval (and possibly longer at the moment) ? Thanks.

 

[freesia]

Hi. My DSN said she would put me forward for the Libre around the end of October last year. It was January when i got a letter saying i'd been approved for a 6 month trial. She said that they have to have a meeting and put forward names of people who might benefit from having the sensor, though i'm not sure how often the meetings take place or whether this varies depending on where you live. It might be worth a call, either meetings have been cancelled for now or maybe they're doing things through zoom. I did have to attend a short group training meeting to be shown how to apply and use them though and i can't see that happening for a while.

 

[MarkGeordie]

Not sure if my trust does it different but I’ve already used it before as I was given a two week trial and from there it was decided I would benefit. I’ll call and see if they can advise me.

 

[Carlos]

My DSN telephone appointment was 23rd March 2020 and the DSN agreed she was recommending they seek funding for a Libre for me. I was just curious, do you think it’s worth chasing or do they generally take a long time to get approval (and possibly longer at the moment) ? Thanks.

My DSN put me forward for the libre in June last year. I am finally getting it at the end of this month. I can only imagine that with the covid situation the process will be slower still.

 

[Carlos]

Hi. My DSN said she would put me forward for the Libre around the end of October last year. It was January when i got a letter saying i'd been approved for a 6 month trial. She said that they have to have a meeting and put forward names of people who might benefit from having the sensor, though i'm not sure how often the meetings take place or whether this varies depending on where you live. It might be worth a call, either meetings have been cancelled for now or maybe they're doing things through zoom. I did have to attend a short group training meeting to be shown how to apply and use them though and i can't see that happening for a while.

Abbott are now running online training sessions, I will be attending one on the 26th.

 

[SB2015]

You can already see that there are differences in different areas.
In ours people were put forward at a meeting and then a decision made as to whether they would make effective use of the information that the Libre gives. For quite a few of us we had been self funding beforehand and had been working with our specialists using the data, so we went through very quickly. Newbies are now put on a trial, and the final decision is based on the outcome from that.

If your nomination was only in March I think I would give it a bit longer, especially in the current circumstances.

 

[SB2015]

My DSN telephone appointment was 23rd March 2020 and the DSN agreed she was recommending they seek funding for a Libre for me. I was just curious, do you think it’s worth chasing or do they generally take a long time to get approval (and possibly longer at the moment) ? Thanks.

It is well worth looking at the training videos that are available, while you wait. I had been using it for two years when I looked at them, and learnt loads from them.

 

[Bruce Stephens]

It is well worth looking at the training videos that are available, while you wait. I had been using it for two years when I looked at them, and learnt loads from them.

I did too. Not only Abbott's, but also https://abcd.care/dtn/flash-glucose-monitoring

 

[trophywench]

I did too. Not only Abbott's, but also https://abcd.care/dtn/flash-glucose-monitoring

Yep - you all know who that 'Mike Kendall' bloke is, anyway!

 

[MarkGeordie]

Good News!

DSN rang me this morning, finding was sorted and consultant wrote the prescription out and it’s been sat there for over a month, the admin team just hadnt sent it to me.

I need to go up to the hospital and collect the first prescription from their pharmacy and I’ll get a letter for my GP to add it to my repeats.

 

[trophywench]

Excellent - let us know how you get on, that chap Kendall amongst others will help you on here with any probs you get with it!

 

[SB2015]

Good News!

DSN rang me this morning, finding was sorted and consultant wrote the prescription out and it’s been sat there for over a month, the admin team just hadnt sent it to me.

I need to go up to the hospital and collect the first prescription from their pharmacy and I’ll get a letter for my GP to add it to my repeats.

That is excellent news Mark.

Abbott are currently running a new webinar, which I think then
becomes available along with past sessions.

 

[MarkGeordie]

Thanks I’ll check the site out.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hope it works out well for you @MarkGeordie 🙂

 

[MarkGeordie]

Thanks.
Just started using it. It’s quite a useful tool.

 

[Ljc]

Thanks.
Just started using it. It’s quite a useful tool.

Glad your finding it useful , it’s been a game changer for me , all that additional info is a great help.
It’s also brill when basal testing.

 

[MarkGeordie]

Am I right in thinking I should still do some testing with my traditional BG monitor too?

 

[Bruce Stephens]

Am I right in thinking I should still do some testing with my traditional BG monitor too?

Yes. It's recommended that you do so anytime what the Libre is saying doesn't match what you're feeling.

There's also (relative to blood glucose) a 10 minute or so lag, so if you're recovering from a hypo the Libre will take a while to read that; using BG can tell you earlier (so reducing the risk of overcorrecting). It's also possible you'll find the Libre's just not very reliable for you, and checking against a BG meter now and again (I usually do a BG test every couple of days) ought to give some reassurance (or not, if the Libre isn't working right).

 

[mikeyB]

Yes. Because there is a slight delay of around 15-20 minutes for the sensor to “catch up” with fingerprick test, if you are correcting a hypo you should always revert to checking with the blood test. As an example, the other day I was doing just that, correcting a 2.8, with which the BT test concurred with a reading of 3.0. After jelly babies, the sensor still read 2.9, BT 5.2. 15 minutes later, they more or less agreed.

Rapid changes up as well can be slower to show on the sensor, but they get there after a while. It’s not a fault with the sensors, it’s just the way your body works. The sensor measures are from interstitial fluid, Blood tests from circulating plasma.

Edit: some repeat of Bruce’s info. He’s a quicker typer!

 

[James B]

I was surprised to hear it’s taken so long to get a libre is this really common? I was diagnosed 4 April and had a libre by 20 April I figured most type 1 had them already?