The charity Diabetes UK Scotland is calling for more insulin pumps to be made available, as the lack of their availability in Scotland is worrying health experts. The charity has demanded an urgent review to assess the growing need to boost the number of diabetes patients who are able to benefit from using an insulin pumps.
They are lobbying MSPs on the Public Petitions Committee at Holyrood to increase the amount of pumps available, especially as just 2 per cent of people in Scotland with type 1 diabetes are thought to have an insulin pump, as compared to 3.9 per cent in England and Wales and around 35 per cent in the US.
The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) has already claimed that about 2–15 per cent of type 1 diabetes patients could benefit from using the pumps, which would benefit more than 4,000 people with type 1 diabetes in Scotland.
Stephen Fyfe, communications officer at Diabetes UK Scotland, commented that the the pumps are “one of the most significant advances in the treatment of diabetes, freeing people from the daily challenges of multiple daily injections, helping to reduce the risks of complications, raising quality of life and freeing up NHS time and resources.”
However, the Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon has stated that more patients would receive insulin pumps by 2013, as the rise in diabetes numbers was “one of the biggest challenges in the health service.”

Get our free newsletters

Stay up to date with the latest news, research and breakthroughs.

You May Also Like

Public Health England considers low carb approach for type 2 diabetes

The low carb approach is being considered by the government to be…

Conversation about doctors’ appointments occurring virtually rumbles on

More than half of GP appointments are still being delivered remotely in…

Coronavirus: UK instructed to stay at home this weekend

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has said that staying at home this weekend…