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pumpers - how long

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bev

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Parent of person with diabetes
Hi all,
Can anyone tell me how long it took for their PCT to agree to funding for the pump? I know the letter has been sent to our PCT about 10 days ago - so just interested to know how long things normally/should take? Thanks.🙂Bev
 
bev said:
Hi all,
Can anyone tell me how long it took for their PCT to agree to funding for the pump? I know the letter has been sent to our PCT about 10 days ago - so just interested to know how long things normally/should take? Thanks.🙂Bev
Click to expand...

Hi Bev,

I was referred in Oct 08, had pump appointment in Feb 09.

But my PCT are notoriously slow according to my consultant! 🙂

x
 
Might be. Although apparently Hillingdon are quite slow at getting paperwork returned anyway. My consultant had originally expected to have had the response by the Christmas even taking into account he was requesting from an neighbouring PCT.

I did lots of chasing after about 6-8 weeks though Bev, just to make sure i wasnt forgotten in a pile of papers somewhere!
 
Hi Bev,

Mine was about 3 months. Unfortunately they never seem to move very quickly lol

Hope you get some news soon

Andy
 
Ours took two weeks Bev. Good luck! Let us know when you get some news! xx 🙂 xx
 
Patricia said:
Ours took about a month Bev -- go girl!
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Hi Bev

Shouldn't take long as they are not allowed to refuse. If they have never authorised a pump though and you are the first one then it may take a bit longer while they find that out.

It makes no difference if you are out of area or not for your care.
 
Thanks all!

Adrienne, we are in the right catchment for our PCT - so hopefully thats not a problem. We have 20 children pumping at our hospital - so they should be used to the protocol. I am thinking i might send a friendly email asking what the situation is?🙂Bev
 
bev said:
Thanks all!

Adrienne, we are in the right catchment for our PCT - so hopefully thats not a problem. We have 20 children pumping at our hospital - so they should be used to the protocol. I am thinking i might send a friendly email asking what the situation is?🙂Bev
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I would ring them and find out who to speak to. I did and got very friendly with the secretary and she ended up keeping me updated !!!
 
bev said:
Thanks all!

Adrienne, we are in the right catchment for our PCT - so hopefully thats not a problem. We have 20 children pumping at our hospital - so they should be used to the protocol. I am thinking i might send a friendly email asking what the situation is?🙂Bev
Click to expand...

Yes, this is the thing to do -- or ring, as Adrienne says. People never mind this, in my experience -- in fact, if you are more than a name, it tends to get things done faster of course....
 
Hi Bev

It took from middle Dec (agreed funding) to middle of Jan to start pumping saline. The started pumping on Feb 1st. Because of Christmas it slowed things down...

We go out of area as well 🙂
 
Thanks Becca!
I am just hoping that he starts pumping before September as he starts at Secondary School - so would like him to start school without the worry of a pump start on top!I have just emailed the Consultant to ask what is the sort of timescale we should expect and to tell him we would like the medtronic pump as we have been to the demo in London.🙂Bev
 
Just got a reply from the Consultant - he says he has sent the letter off to the PCT and is hopeful that Alex will start pumping within 6 weeks! I am just hoping it is more like 4 or so - as i would like it to be in the summer holidays - as i think it will be a lot better for Alex to get used to it for a couple of weeks before starting at school in September.🙂Bev
 
Brilliant new though Bev -- yay! Alex will be up to it, no matter when it happens.

Have to admit that our longest wait was for a training time at the hospital -- hence we grabbed the one in June, even during exams. Cos the next one was end of July! But we'd known since March that we were headed for a pump with no problems...
 
bev said:
Just got a reply from the Consultant - he says he has sent the letter off to the PCT and is hopeful that Alex will start pumping within 6 weeks! I am just hoping it is more like 4 or so - as i would like it to be in the summer holidays - as i think it will be a lot better for Alex to get used to it for a couple of weeks before starting at school in September.🙂Bev
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Woo hoo fab news, I'm so pleased for you. Who does the training? The DSN or the pump company?
 
Hi Adrienne,
I honestly dont know - i did ask them that very same question in my email the other week ( the one i sent a copy of to you) - but in all the confusion/excitement i dont think they actually answered me! I am assuming its the pump company as our dsn is overstretched as it is - so i doubt she has the time to spend on it! I am starting to worry a little now because i have noticed that some teams offer phone contact over the weekend etc - but our dsn finishes work at 4pm every day and she has never said she works weekends or overtime etc! Perhaps they do offer it to new pumpers - not sure - i will need to ask them as i cant imagine not having any contact over the weekend in the very early days.🙂Bev
 
bev said:
Hi Adrienne,
I honestly dont know - i did ask them that very same question in my email the other week ( the one i sent a copy of to you) - but in all the confusion/excitement i dont think they actually answered me! I am assuming its the pump company as our dsn is overstretched as it is - so i doubt she has the time to spend on it! I am starting to worry a little now because i have noticed that some teams offer phone contact over the weekend etc - but our dsn finishes work at 4pm every day and she has never said she works weekends or overtime etc! Perhaps they do offer it to new pumpers - not sure - i will need to ask them as i cant imagine not having any contact over the weekend in the very early days.🙂Bev
Click to expand...

Hi Bev

Absolutely. You should have a list of questions at the ready and this should be the top one ie 24 hour support. The DSN or pump trainer (probably DSN) should be ringing you on a daily basis to begin with. I think we were run for a week or 10 days, can't remember, others are sometimes less than that, this could have been because of the fact it was my daughter who is unusual.
 
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