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Help on getting a pump on NHS or private

B

Byrne1965

New Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi All,

I have joined on behalf of my mom who isn't great with computers.

I was hoping for some advice as my mom has type 1 diabetes and has had this for 40 years now but has never been able to manage her sugars, they are (on a weekly basis dangerously low) causing hypos, which are taking us around 1 hr to bring her round. Her sugars drop so quickly. She has always looked after her health and watches what she eats but nothing seems to work.

As far as I know she is eligible for a pump but can't see a diabetic nurse for a few months. I am hoping we can get some help as we feel she is just getting fobbed off. She is also now on dialysis and has not seen a consultant for over a year.

We need to get the ball rolling with regards to getting a pump, even if this is private.

We live in the West Midlands, so I am not sure if there are others on this forum having the same problems in that area.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank you,

Kerry
 
Byrne1965 said:
Hi All,

I have joined on behalf of my mom who isn't great with computers.

I was hoping for some advice as my mom has type 1 diabetes and has had this for 40 years now but has never been able to manage her sugars, they are (on a weekly basis dangerously low) causing hypos, which are taking us around 1 hr to bring her round. Her sugars drop so quickly. She has always looked after her health and watches what she eats but nothing seems to work.

As far as I know she is eligible for a pump but can't see a diabetic nurse for a few months. I am hoping we can get some help as we feel she is just getting fobbed off. She is also now on dialysis and has not seen a consultant for over a year.

We need to get the ball rolling with regards to getting a pump, even if this is private.

We live in the West Midlands, so I am not sure if there are others on this forum having the same problems in that area.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Thank you,

Kerry
Click to expand...
Welcome to the forum on behalf of your Mum. I don't think it is quite as easy as you might think to get a pump as they do need quite a bit of self management and interaction with technology and if she struggles with computers she may find that challenging.
More to the point she probably need help in managing here condition with the resources she has. It sounds as if she is taking too much insulin for the amount of carbohydrates she is eating.
If you are able to say what insulins she has and if she has a Libre or similar then people may be able to suggest something to improve things for her now.
Pumps are not really available privately and under the NHS there are criteria that would need to be met.
Hopefully people who are pump users will be along to give their view on her situation.
 
Welcome to the forum @Byrne1965 Kerry

How lovely of you to join to try to help your Mum with her diabetes.

The NICE guidance for pump therapy is published under TA151, as a Technology Appraisal, this carries a legal obligation for the local health authority to provide funding if her clinic assesses her as meeting the criteria.

The primary criteria is that a person might be struggling with hypoglycaemia which, despite their best efforts, is occuring unpredictably, and is having a negative impact on quality of life, and is a cause of worry or anxiety.

The second criteria is an elevated HbA1c despite using modern insulins, and having been shown how to use them properly (either one-to-one, or as part of a structured course).

These 2 criteria are either/or. You con’t have to meet them both.

It was the unpredictability of my hypos that did it for me, and the workarounds I was putting in place to try to avoid them, plus the more or less constant thinking, worrying, and double-checking I was doing to try to keep them from happening.

You can read the NICE guidance here:

1 Recommendations | Continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion for the treatment of diabetes mellitus | Guidance | NICE

www.nice.org.uk www.nice.org.uk

Has your Mum ever been on a diabetes course like DAFNE? Or has she been taught to adjust her doses one-to-one.

Does she count carbohydrates in her meals, and adjust her doses to suit?

Which insulins is she on?

Sorry for the barrage of questions!
 
Leadinglights said:
Pumps are not really available privately
Click to expand...
You CAN get pumps privately (there has been a recent thread discussing from someone who got OmniPod privately).
However, pumps are not available to purchase without a supporting endocrinologist.
So, in addition to the pump and the ongoing pump supplies, you need to fund a private doctor making them expensive which is why it is rare.
 
helli said:
You CAN get pumps privately (there has been a recent thread discussing from someone who got OmniPod privately).
However, pumps are not available to purchase without a supporting endocrinologist.
So, in addition to the pump and the ongoing pump supplies, you need to fund a private doctor making them expensive which is why it is rare.
Click to expand...
Thanks
The OP may glean something from the posts here then.
forum.diabetes.org.uk

Search results for query: private funding for pump

forum.diabetes.org.uk forum.diabetes.org.uk
 
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