No going back...

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Amity Island

Amity Island

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

I’d never (want to) go back to finger pricking. After over a year using the Freestyle Libre I can’t imagine a world without it. It’s not just a game changer, it’s a life changer. It’s allowed me to live my life much nearer to “normal”. It takes away the constant question “are my levels ok” from day to day and minute to minute. For me, the affordable, simple to use stand-alone device at just a one off £58 for the reader and £116 per month for sensors it’s the only and best thing that’s been brought into the world of diabetes management since insulin was invented 100 years ago. I know there are c.g.m’s for those that pump their insulin, but the libre is available to every type 1 at an affordable price. When you consider the vast amounts, the hundreds of millions of pounds diabetes charities have spent, as far as I know only Abbott have come up with “the goods” something tangible to help diabetics manage and improve their lives each and every day.

I know the Libre 2 is due out, but I'm also looking forward to Libre 3! I can think of so many ways to improve the Libre, it will need a 3rd version to include all the possible improvements.

p.s

And no btw, I don’t work for Abbott lol I just love the libre!
 
You don't need to pay VAT on these so it's more like slightly less than £50 for the reader and each sensor, so around £1300 per year. (And also you may be able to get them on prescription.)
 
Bruce Stephens said:
You don't need to pay VAT on these so it's more like slightly less than £50 for the reader and each sensor, so around £1300 per year. (And also you may be able to get them on prescription.)
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Hi Bruce,
If I was selling them, I might of quoted them with the minus VAT price also lol 😉. Also, I don't pay for them anymore as I get them on prescription. Just making the point about how good value for money they are compared to finger pricking or cgm devices.
 
£116 a month for sensors? I don’t pay that much - is that including VAT? In any event, the cost is way beyond the means of folk on low pay or benefits, unless they can be obtained on prescription. That said, I certainly agree with the sentiment 🙂
 
The Libre has been a game changer for me. All the time I can afford it I will continue to buy the sensors.
Atm they are £48 each excluding VAT
 
grovesy said:
You have to fill in a declaration to get the VAT removed.
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Yes, I should have been clearer. The web shop does make it easy to claim back the VAT (just click on a checkbox when you're paying and fill in the declaration). But the main page gives the including-VAT price, presumably because it has to (even though most customers will be able to check the box and remove the VAT when they pay).
 
Have to agree that the Libre is a life-changer. My mum was on the waiting list to fund me but the day she got the email saying she could buy them I got a letter saying I was being funded through NHS. I've only had it 5 months and I wouldn't go back to finger pricking if I had a choice. This tech can only get better! 🙂
 
LittleLatios said:
Have to agree that the Libre is a life-changer. My mum was on the waiting list to fund me but the day she got the email saying she could buy them I got a letter saying I was being funded through NHS. I've only had it 5 months and I wouldn't go back to finger pricking if I had a choice. This tech can only get better! 🙂
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Hi Little Latios,
I'm really grateful too that such an amazing device exists. You make a good point, this is the first of the freestyle libres and they can only get better.
 
Amity Island said:
What price do you think the sensors need to be to make them affordable to everyone that wants them?
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Has to go the way of test strips, and be regarded as (one of) the normal ways to monitor glucose levels and so be prescribed (free of charge to patients) routinely.

(My comment that not everyone gets on with it was not about price: some people who try Libre find it doesn't work for them in one or more ways. Some failures seem easy to understand: if you're allergic to the glue then that's a showstopper. Others seem weirder, with people reporting that the readings become less and less accurate over time.)
 
Bruce Stephens said:
Has to go the way of test strips, and be regarded as (one of) the normal ways to monitor glucose levels and so be prescribed (free of charge to patients) routinely.
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Hi Bruce,
Would that be cheaper than the 2 week libre (£50) sensors? Are the test strips about £25 for 50? For me, that would be enough for 1 week, thus 2 weeks would be £50.
 
Amity Island said:
Would that be cheaper than the 2 week libre (£50) sensors? Are the test strips about £25 for 50? For me, that would be enough for 1 week, thus 2 weeks would be £50.
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No, for almost everyone it costs the NHS more than test strips. The sensors cost (they say) £35 each, and test strips are around £10 for 50. (The Optium test strips (that the FreeStyle Readers use) are apparently more expensive, at £15 for 50.) (The NHS costs for test strips are from a leaked list from a few years ago. I think, anyway. Not sure where the £35 came from, but it seems plausible and if the price were significantly different that would make a number of things more confusing so I'm inclined to believe it.)

So the cutoff is 12 or 13 tests a day (for the cheaper strips) and 8 or 9 for the more expensive ones. (It's probably not a coincidence that one of the criteria for Freestyle Libre prescribing is saving 8 or more tests a day.)

I'm not sure how many tests a day is average for patients, but I'm willing to believe it's way lower than 8 (and so far too few, so really that ought to be the issue rather than cost, since there's decent evidence that more testing can improve control).
 
Bruce Stephens said:
No, for almost everyone it costs the NHS more than test strips. The sensors cost (they say) £35 each, and test strips are around £10 for 50. (The Optium test strips (that the FreeStyle Readers use) are apparently more expensive, at £15 for 50.) (The NHS costs for test strips are from a leaked list from a few years ago. I think, anyway. Not sure where the £35 came from, but it seems plausible and if the price were significantly different that would make a number of things more confusing so I'm inclined to believe it.)

So the cutoff is 12 or 13 tests a day (for the cheaper strips) and 8 or 9 for the more expensive ones. (It's probably not a coincidence that one of the criteria for Freestyle Libre prescribing is saving 8 or more tests a day.)

I'm not sure how many tests a day is average for patients, but I'm willing to believe it's way lower than 8 (and so far too few, so really that ought to be the issue rather than cost, since there's decent evidence that more testing can improve control).
Click to expand...

I wonder how many of us have been told we can test as much as we like on test strips, I never have. I test when I want but its not normally more than 10 on a good day, sick days or non standard days it might be more but busy days it might be less. So it averages out less.
And how many of us have had to justify our useage, how is anyone going to meet this criteria when we have always been given the opposite message. Got my appointment in a few weeks at my new surgery, and i will be asking about this.

Has anyone got the link to the NICE guidelines?
 
PhoebeC said:
I wonder how many of us have been told we can test as much as we like on test strips, I never have. I test when I want but its not normally more than 10 on a good day, sick days or non standard days it might be more but busy days it might be less. So it averages out less.
And how many of us have had to justify our useage, how is anyone going to meet this criteria when we have always been given the opposite message. Got my appointment in a few weeks at my new surgery, and i will be asking about this.

Has anyone got the link to the NICE guidelines?
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Hi Phoebe,
So N.I.C.E guidelines recommend 4 times a day under normal conditions (up to 10 if required).
To be eligible for a freestyle Libre you must test min 8 times per day. Something not right there.
Given people on Libre are testing anything up to and maybe more than 30 times a day, 4 times a day seems completely insufficient as a health authority guide.
 
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