Which blood test machine?

[Type1of25years+]

Hi all,
This is the first time I have ever posted in a forum!! Here goes....
I’ve been using FreeStyle Lite blood test machine for years (10/15 maybe?!) and am really happy with it but my practice are insisting I switch to one with cheaper strips (max £10 - FreeStyle Lite nearer £15 apparently). I’m happy to but the machines they’ve given me to try are so rubbish! Massive machines, big clumpy strips, inaccurate readings! Can anyone recommend a good one that’s small, accurate and ideally the strips come in small pot and you can pop blood on both sides? Oh yeah with cheap strips!!
I use FreeStyle Libre & Spike but still need to test.
(Is it just me or are the surgeries/pharmacies forgetting what empathy is these days....)
Thanks for any help.
#downtrodden #tiredoffightingforgoodcare

 

[Bruce Stephens]

I've used (mostly) Accu-Chek meters (currently I've got the Aviva Nano, which is very small but likely obsolete). I think the test strips are around the common cost (so £10 or so for the NHS). I seem to remember someone posting a PDF of the prices, and yes, the FreeStyle Optium strips were around £15, so above what CCGs would want. Accuracy should really be around the same, at least conforming to the current standard (though it seems rather tricky for us to verify that).

I agree it does seem that surgeries are sometimes trying to penny-pinch inappropriately. Really they ought to be trying to encourage patients to test, not make it annoying.

 

[trophywench]

I given some nanos as spares in case there's a problem with my pump handset - because they take exactly the same strips as Accu-Chek pump handsets do. (The handsets are also meters along with their remote pump control) I understood that the pots of strips were still around £15 to the NHS? The strips are no more flimsy than any other strip I've used for at least the last 20 years, if not 30!

Unless of course modern Nanos (mine are all 9 years old) use flimsier strips?

 

[Type1of25years+]

Thank you all

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Thank you all

welcome to the forum.

there is nothing in the National T1 Guideline that suggests there is any cost effectiveness benefit for changing T1 to cheaper meters. You should be supported in using a meter which best suits your needs. If you are happy to switch - then fine, but as far as I am aware, the NICE guidance says you should have the pick of any meter on the market that fits with your diabetes management.