is the pump on the NHS?

Status
Not open for further replies.
hyper-Suze

hyper-Suze

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi all,

Have been trying soooo hard for the last 10 months to get control after more than 9years of this awful illness and the consultant did say if I couldn't get control that he asked if I would consider the pump. As I want a family in a year or two a pump seems the way forward for control. I think it would also help when the baby would demand my time and would have time to look after myself.

My question is, are the pumps funded by the NHS or do I have to fund privately?

Also, doc mentioned I would have to spend about a week in hospital whilst adjusting, is this correct to other peoples experiences?
 
hi hyper-Suze

if you have a look at the top of the general messageboard, there's a subforums especially for pumpers. they will be able to answer you in more detail but essentially, the answer is yes, the NHS fund the pumps. generally what they won't fund is the sensors for a CGM device.
 
Thanks for that, I will have to log on. At home(when I remember to!) as I log on thru my blackberry and the amount of posts to look thru would take me forever on this ting screen! Will have a look later and thanks for your reply!
 
Hi, yes do look at the pumpers section you will get many questions answered there.

But yes the nhs funds the pump, and no you do not need a week in hospital. I have been pumping for a couple of months and found the transition easy although you do need to do a lot of reading, testing etc. But on the day you will just connect and go!:D
 
hyper-suze

there can be a waiting time for getting on the pump, the length of it depends on where you are. I would advise getting on it sooner rather than later if you are wanting to have kids. I am now in the position of having been approved for the pump but on a long waiting list, so I will probably not have it before getting pregnant (if all goes to plan on that front anyway).
 
Unfortunately, getting a pump depends on your consultant and PCT and is different all over the country. I couldn't get one at all in Lambeth as soon as I moved to East Surrey - they were delighted I wanted one and got put on one as soon as I had had my baby. Have been on it for 3 weeks - OK so far - though last night it did fail and I ended up with BS of 19 - the highest I have been for years! I have done years of research into them and really beleive they are the best thing for T1 - and now am putting it into practice! Yeee ha!
 
Admin said:
Unfortunately, getting a pump depends on your consultant and PCT and is different all over the country. I couldn't get one at all in Lambeth as soon as I moved to East Surrey - they were delighted I wanted one and got put on one as soon as I had had my baby. Have been on it for 3 weeks - OK so far - though last night it did fail and I ended up with BS of 19 - the highest I have been for years! I have done years of research into them and really beleive they are the best thing for T1 - and now am putting it into practice! Yeee ha!
Click to expand...


Hi admin,

I got mine out of Lambeth, but perhaps I should say I squeezed it out of Lambeth!

Worth all the effort though 🙂
 
Hi

What people in general don't seem to realise that is has absolutely nothing to do with the PCT making a decision. The PCT have no bearing on the decision about who has a pump or not, they do not enter into this.

If a person, young or old, fits the criteria in the NICE guidelines then you can have a pump. That's the easy bit.

If your hospital are a good hospital then they will be offering pumps. Absolutely no hospital in the UK can be now classed as a good hospital for diabetes if they do not offer pumps. Pumping is the gold standard of care that should be recognised in all areas not just a few. All it takes is a consultant to say you need a pump and qualify. He writes to the PCT (not the patient) and tells them you are getting a pump and they HAVE to pay. They cannot argue. This is in the NICE guidelines.

If you are at a hospital who do not yet pump then you can get referred to another hospital anywhere who do pumps. The hospital can be out of your area but they will be writing to your own PCT as it is your own PCT who will fund it regardless of where the hospital is. If someone is too anxious about asking their consultant to refer, then bypass him/her and go to your GP for a referral, this is again perfectly ok.

You would not believe the amount of children who are being referred out of bad hospitals to the ones that care enough to keep up to date with progress and best practice.

So whomever wants a pump, go get one. If you want to fire any questions at me, go ahead and I'll answer what I can if I know.

Hope that has helped at least one person who may want a pump but feared they would never get one.
 
Adrienne - my hospital's problem (Selly Oak hosp, Birmingham) seems to be that they don't want to put people on pumps. My DSN avoids all questions about pumps and tells me to just revise my DAFNE handbook (which I have been doing!). I overheard one of the other DSN's say to a patient as he was leaving that she was happy to apply for a pump for him but it could take ages because of funding.

I don't want to storm in and be like, give me a pump bitches! but I feel like they don't want the hassle.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top