Glucose testing kits in Scotland.

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Kirth

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1.5 LADA
Hi, I am Type 1.5 (LADA), diagnosed in 2020.
I was prescribed ContourNext test strips and glucose monitor which link by Bluetooth to my iPhone which automatically records the readings and links to the AppleHealth app.
I also use the OneDrop app (without subscription) to record my Carbs (via Siri) this also links to the AppleHealth app, all data held privately locally.
After working 43 years in the NHS I have now retired to Scotland.
Whilst waiting for the house to complete we we’re staying in an AirB&B and I registered as a temporary patient with a local GP and had no problem getting a supply of ContourNext testing strips.
We have now moved into our new home and registered as new patients, however the new GP surgery is insisting I switch to Nipro 4Sure test strips and Smart Meter.
The Diabetes:M app that you have to download is awful, you have to sign away your privacy to use it, it has targeted advertising and is nag-ware constantly telling me to pay a subscription of £4.99/month to get full service and remove the adverts.
I know the ContourNext strips are expensive, can I switch to ContourBlue and still use the app on my iPhone.
Can Scottish GPs prescribe any testing kit or are they only able to prescribe 4Sure test kits as the receptionist is telling me.
 
I am prescribed tee2+ and test strips.
The app isn't terrible but basic. blueooths to phone and syncs to their online version of what libreview is I guess.
Haven't found a way of hooking it into other things on android.
Doesn't have paid features or adverts though. 😉
Honestly I just wish there was a standard way of reporting and syncing all meters and sensor's results to a single app easily 🙄

Any issues getting libre up here?
 
Local NHS groups in England all have different preferences for meters/strips. Presumably this is largely based on the cost of the strips they've negotiated with the manufacturer, so I dare same the same applies in Scotland.

According to Ascensia's site the Blue meter uses the same app as the Next.
 
Each GP will usually have a meter they use, at my practice it’s the wavesense jazz that’s used. Even being on insulin I can’t get another brand of strips unless I have a very good reason for needing them, so just had to switch to wavesense jazz as ‘the meter drives me mad’ didn’t seem to do the trick. All meters do the job of finding out bg levels at least.
 
I use a next and blue with the same contour app.
 
After several days of frustration with the 4SureDuo so called ‘Smart’ meter and a long chain of emails to Nipro/4Sure support, things are a little clearer.
It seems Nipro/4Sure do not have their own app and rely on third party apps to receive the readings via Bluetooth.
Diabetes:M, diasend, glooko.
In my opinion Diabetes:M has a questionable privacy policy, is nag-ware with adverts and will only fully function if you pay a subscription.
The second recommended app by Nipro/4Sure is glooko, which turns out to be not yet compatible with the SmartDuo meter.
The third recommended app is diasend, a predecessor to glooko, this lets me upload readings to my iPhone, it is basic, there is no integration with the Health app or any other readings I have taken with my ContourNext meter, so all my trend analysis is broken.
 
Can you enter readings from the Nipro manually into the Contour app? Not as convenient as BT but I do all mine manually, as I get too many false highs with my Caresens Dual. Manual entry means I can simply disregard them, but there's no way to edit/delete a rogue reading pulled in by BT.

Not ideal but you can purchase the Contour Plus Blue strips for around £8.50 a pot if you bulk buy. It may be possible to get a free meter from Ascensia if you call them.

Is Libre or another CGM an option up there?
 
Welcome to Scotland, I moved here 20 years ago and have never regretted it.

Have you spoken to the GP rather than the receptionist?
 
Thanks for the reply’s folks, I registered on the 18th Feb and my medical records have still not been sent up from old GP in East London.
I need to make an appt with the new surgery to go through all my conditions, but until the records arrive there is not much point.
I was under three different consultants, endocrinologist for hyperparathyroidism/diabetes, hypertension (much better now I’ve retired) and an ophthalmologists for uveitis.
I was a Medical Microbiologist in the NHS for the last 43 years, so have a very good understanding of my conditions.
I also managed laboratory information systems for patient results, so understand computer systems.
I worry for other diabetes patients when systems are put in place by people who clearly do not realise the consequences.
Every diabetes patient is different and finds their own way of managing their diabetes, to be told to change without any meaningful dialogue is very poor practice and it concerns me other patients are not being given the knowledge to make informed choices about what works best for them.
 
Kirth said:
Thanks for the reply’s folks, I registered on the 18th Feb and my medical records have still not been sent up from old GP in East London.
I need to make an appt with the new surgery to go through all my conditions, but until the records arrive there is not much point.
I was under three different consultants, endocrinologist for hyperparathyroidism/diabetes, hypertension (much better now I’ve retired) and an ophthalmologists for uveitis.
I was a Medical Microbiologist in the NHS for the last 43 years, so have a very good understanding of my conditions.
I also managed laboratory information systems for patient results, so understand computer systems.
I worry for other diabetes patients when systems are put in place by people who clearly do not realise the consequences.
Every diabetes patient is different and finds their own way of managing their diabetes, to be told to change without any meaningful dialogue is very poor practice and it concerns me other patients are not being given the knowledge to make informed choices about what works best for them.
Click to expand...
Hi, I'm in England. During my first year "as if T1" my GP Surgery quibbled over prescribing the DSN provided test cartridges for my DSN provided Accuchek meter. The cassettes are relatively expensive, but very convenient. My DSN gently reminded my GP Surgery (by phone) that the NICE Guidance said, in effect, that T1s should be provided with whatever they needed - there was no precise formula for what they could or could not need or have.

I've no idea how that translates within Scotland. But I would be politely telling my new Surgery what I needed and push hard to get that understood and supported. You clearly have the background experience of how the NHS works; perhaps you can quietly nudge your new Surgery to do better?
 
Proud to be erratic said:
Hi, I'm in England. During my first year "as if T1" my GP Surgery quibbled over prescribing the DSN provided test cartridges for my DSN provided Accuchek meter. The cassettes are relatively expensive, but very convenient. My DSN gently reminded my GP Surgery (by phone) that the NICE Guidance said, in effect, that T1s should be provided with whatever they needed - there was no precise formula for what they could or could not need or have.

I've no idea how that translates within Scotland. But I would be politely telling my new Surgery what I needed and push hard to get that understood and supported. You clearly have the background experience of how the NHS works; perhaps you can quietly nudge your new Surgery to do better?
Click to expand...

As far as I know the NICE guidelines are the same within Scotland as the rest of the UK.
 
CatsFive said:
As far as I know the NICE guidelines are the same within Scotland as the rest of the UK.
Click to expand...
Are there the same large Integrated Care Systems (ICS) also in Scotland that have been put in place in England and went live on 1 July 2022?

To some extent no matter what NICE say - the immediate bureaucracy of former CCGs and now ICS can dictate, or attempt to dictate what a GP Surgery can prescribe; it has been noticeable for me that something relatively new, eg Dexcom One, is bogged down in new bureaucracy - rather than a medication that was already on the local Formulary. In this case the Contour Next testing Meter and strips are not new to the Formulary. So there is hope that gentle but robust 'nudging' can win the day.
 
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