Its down to the post code lottery again, at my GP's practice they don't send any reminders out and its up to the patient to make all the running. Could lead to the question of how many have not attended an annual screening for years. I do get appointments sent for the eye screening at the hospital annually.
My annual checks fall in around Nov. This year I have already had several HbA1c tests with the latest being this month, due to high BS occurring. As none of the tests have included the full range of tests that are normally done on the annual appointments, so I will be making them all again around Nov again this year.
The care plan is also a post code lottery, and in the 13 years of being T2, I have never been offered or had a care plan discussed with me.
Normally at my practice they only do a HbA1c test annually, and regard that as sufficient to maintain ones control
. As a newly diagnosed diabetic you really need to be tested every 3 months, to see what's going on, and to see if any meds need adding or changing.
Which brings on the next sore point, many GP's say if you are type 2 there is no need to test, so they won't issue a prescription for test strips. With out testing you can't identify which food/s affects you and in what way they effect you. As a newly diagnosed person you should be offered the ability to test your sugar levels even if its only short term. If you get put on meds that can cause a hypo then you should be given a prescription for test strips.
Getting hold of a meter is normally simple enough as the suppliers tend to give you these for free as the make their money from the test strips.
If you feel your GP is letting you down, you could ask around if you know other diabetics to see which GP they use and the level of support you can get, and move GP, in my area there is not much point in moving as most don't have a good name for one reason or another.
