I'm in London - I got the meter and first sensor free with a trial through my hospital. My DSN organised a session with the Abbott Rep. that would give you 14 days of readings and the meter free and perhaps you could purchase 1 or 2 yourself after that just to get a sense of what is going on between tests. That's what I love about it - I scan before I go to sleep and I test when I wake up and it shows me what has happened in the night. Lows and highs and all sorts of goings on whilst I slept! Another huge plus is that when you do a reading it indicates whether your sugars are staying level, increasing rapidly or slowly, or dropping fast or slowly.. so I can be ready to take action and test again soon after. I did not know any of this until I went to the intro session. Yes it's expensive but this first year as a T1 with a very active lifestyle my BG levels are all over the place. But yes it is expensive to fund.. I'm going to do a week of pricking in between every new sensor.. and VAT exempt just to reduce annual cost a little!