Unable to get flash monitor

[everydayupsanddowns]

Hi Had my long awaited appointment with my diabetic nurse and asked her if I was eligible. She told me it is coming but not there yet. I did contact the Dr. Surgery the beginning of April after hearing on the news type one were now eligible but didn't realise it wasn't mandatory this is what I was told on a message from the surgery. I don't see a consultant at the hospitalI use to but think I manage it alot better now. Nurse did say it's down to North East Herts District. I feel quite let down.

Sorry to hear you are having trouble getting hold of Libre @JaneElizabeth

How many times a day do you need to check your glucose levels with your BG meter to keep yourself safe and manage your diabetes effectively? If it‘s 8 or more times a day, you should be able to access Libre under the old criteria

The new NICE guidelines should make it easier for more people to access CGM (both realtime and intermittently-scanned) over the coming months, though these are only guidelines and aren’t binding…

BUT

There were already mandatory NHS England criteria in place for a proportion of T1s to access Libre - so it’s not strictly true for your nurse to say it’s down to North East Herts District. The CCG budget was ‘top sliced’ in 2019, and the only way for them to use that money, was for them to prescribe Libre to appropriate people with T1 as laid out here

NHS England » Flash Glucose Monitoring: National arrangements for funding of relevant diabetes patients

Health and high quality care for all, now and for future generations

www.england.nhs.uk

 

[Proud to be erratic]

Hello again @JaneElizabeth ,
Although @everydayupsanddowns most helpfully provides the underlying NHS rationale and formal clarity of the 2019 'top slicing' approach, I think the general advice that I suggested earlier still applies. You need to take a polite, courteous but robust stance and go back to your GP making your strong case about why you require Libre 2 to help you regain better management of your diabetes.

The NHS system is relying on apathy to allow it to get away with not funding what is needed and is not in line with NICE Guidelines. It is worth noting that the NHS document only refers to T1 eligibility, and doesn't include T3cs like myself. Yet we have Libre because common sense applied at local level has recognised that T3cs on insulin have a requirement. One can debate whether T3c need is any more, or less, pressing than a T1 need. At the end of the day it will become a subjective assessment.

But my point is that it can be done and your GP surgery need to do it. If they won't assist, elevate that to your MP. You should not be entangled by some bureaucratic process of who can afford what. That should NEVER be a medical explanation of why you can't be given a treatment that exists and is relatively simple. If you were rushed to hospital with some urgent medical condition that could be treated, no-one is going to say "really sorry, we have this straightforward technical solution, but we can't afford to treat you" . Don't allow your Surgery or CCG to project a rebuff on financial grounds; how its paid for should not be part of the medical dialogue. That was at the heart of justifying why UK should have an NHS all those years ago: care for all, regardless of means to pay.

I have no doubt that there are many T1s who might benefit from Libre but simply don't wish to go down that route. But you do see a benefit and you need to be robust in putting your case.