Has anyone moved pct with a pump?

[donnellysdogs]

Has anyone with a pump tried moving address (different pct) but staying with the same hospital?

How long did it take for your funding to be sorted out for your pump?

 

[VickiT11979]

I have, but it never crossed my mind about funding - I just rang the hospital team & let them know I'd changed address & carried on phoning Animas for my supplies & there were never any queries from them. I definitely changed PCT, from Newcastle to Gateshead (there's a big "North of Tyne/South of Tyne divide up here!).

 

[donnellysdogs]

I phoned my hospital in October and said I was moving and to find out where I stood with keeping at the hospital but changing pct. hospital told me to order 3 months of supplies ahead, as it takes longer to sort out than if my hospital and pct were the same. I oredered 3 months supplies....it was agreed I would give them my new address when I went to November appt at hospital.

I informed my hospital in November that I had moved house and I got a different pct with new address.
They said they would sort.

I checked again in December at two appointments and they said they would sort.

January passed. February arrived ...Checked with accuchek whether I could order.... No.. They not received any paperwork from my hospital.

Phoned hospital. They had not even applied for my funding...they are now 'on it'

Thing is, if it had been roche, not animas pumps recalled... I would not come under accuchek as my funding not sorted... I havent been able to order any supplies for 3 months... The hospital really bad to not even apply... And it took me again to chase up after waiting 3 months because the hospital told me that the pct can take a while longer to sort out the funding when it is a different pct.... The pct did send a letter to hospital today acknowledging the request and saying that they are considering the request. Has anybody any idea how long a different pct may take to consider pump funding request?

I need some supplies and wondering how long I will have to wait. The hospital today said they hoped they would hear this week..... If thats the case.. Why did they tell me to order 3 months supplies back in October??

 

[VickiT11979]

Can a different pct change the original funding decision? Or is it definite that you will get funding, it's just the NHS paperwork & burocracy that's causing the delay? It must happen reasonably often, surely?
I thought that when you first get the pump, if your consultant says you fit the NICE criteria then your pct has to provide funding - otherwise you could sue them for not sticking to the NICE guidelines.
If hospital delays mean you have no supplies & might have to go back to MDIs that's very good grounds for formal complaint. How many days do you have left? Chasing all this is hassle you don't need - especially when you're working as well, and the stress won't help your BG levels.
It might be worth phoning your pct, asking for the name of the funding manager & then getting put through to try to find out what's going on from the horse's mouth.

 

[donnellysdogs]

Thanks Vicki, I'll find out who the funding manager is and ask how long their consideration period may be.

You're absolutely right ref the stress and bg levels and working and I do consider that my hospital have not acted properly in their part of applying for my funding. I think they are totally out of order.

I didnt act in Jan as I should have had an appointment, but the person who made the appointments for the pump clinics was unable to book any appointments as her computer system wouldnt let her. So, I waited for my 2 month appointment...(Jan)... It didnt arrive, so I phoned up. She said she couldnt book any appointments, she would phone me back. She didnt. Then I had to do another phonecall... And appointment isnt till March now.
In Nov appt hosp told me they wanted to see a hba1c of 8...-i was 6.6. They looked at qty of hypo readings according to cgm.... I now have constant proof that my cgm registers 3.7 and my blood will be anywhere from 5.4 to 7.0. So I have constant proof now that cgm readings are really out, and the cgm keeps losing its connectivity... The cgm is now going back to the manufacturer via the MHRA for them to investigate why the cgm keeps losing its connectivity when I'm sat down writing this on my phone!!

So along with the funding issue, I also have a lot else going on ... And trying to fit in work and fun time too!

I'll definitely get hold of funding manager tomorrow.. Watch this space....

 

[pumppimp]

Hi guys,
Not that this will help any but I've been offically at my new hospital 4 years and I'm still being funded by my old pct I don't think they realise that they are still funding me but when they do I know I'll be cut off and have to pay myself, as my new hospital have refused to fund my pump as they "don't have the funding". I hope you get yours sorted out quicker than I've managed.
Good Luck Laura

 

[donnellysdogs]

Gosh pumppimp!!

Well I've just spoken to fund manager... And got told I would get a phone call back as they had to look into something.
They just phoned back and said that the hospital hadnt made it clear on their details what the funding was for... Cgm or pump or both. So they had to phone the hospital, as my pct will not fund a cgm.... And I have one.
Anyway, the hospital are funding the cgm.. And the pump funding is now sorted for me to order dome supplies.

 

[VickiT11979]

That's great - glad it got sorted.
Laura - that makes me wonder if my old PCT are still paying for my pump supplies. I've just chosen a new one as I'm at the end of the 4 year warranty & the DSN said it usually takes "quite a few weeks" to get the funding sorted out - more than a month anyway, which is when my warranty ends.
If the wrong PCT is involved & it's a totally new funding application it might take even longer, which won't be great as I'll have to wait until I get the new pump to start my self funded CGM. I'm desperate to start this asap as my control's variable - i've run high constantly the last 5days & yesterday increased basal & all boluses by 20% with slight impact, today I'm on +30% & still haven't had a single reading below 7.5

 

[donnellysdogs]

At least Its confirmation that pcts can act very quickly in makingfunding available once hospitals do the paperwork. Makes me very grateful that the pct acted so quickly in my case.

 

[sticks71]

I moved from the mid Essex PCT to the north Essex PCT just over a year ago. Unfortunately my hospital took their time doing the necessary paperwork and it ended up with Roche temporarily putting my account on stop!

They were really helpful though and following a couple of phone calls I had with them they continued to supply me with pump consumables even while the funding transfer was being held up somewhere in the system!

 

[donnellysdogs]

Roche did say to me to phone back if I needed too. Their customer service very good.

 

[pumppimp]

Hi,
That's great that you've managed to get your funding approved and hopefully won't be too long before the clogs are working as normal again.
Vikki, Just ask your supplier next time you're getting sets etc they will quite happily tell you who pays, it's up to you if you tell them if that's right or not.
I started my pump when I was just about to take my a-levels and 4 months later I moved to Aberdeen to go to uni, I was still comming back for christmas easter and summer holidays so I had my consultant and dsn appointments booked for then. However in 3rd year I got my new pump and the consultant asked if I was likely to stay in Aberdeen or to come back, and as my parents had moved to cornwall I said I was likely to just stay up in Aberdeen. It was agreed that I would ask my GP for a referal to the pump clinic in Aberdeen but my consultant said it might take a while to get sorted so they were quite happy to fund me until it was all sorted. I think I've offically been a paitient at aberden for 4 years but they still havn't requested my notes and have refeused to fund the pump as they don't have the funding and I was also told my HbA1c was too high for someone on a pump so it musn't be of any use to me. My previous pct are still funding my sets though, I havn't seen or spoken to anyone down there for 4 or 5 years so am just waiting to be cut off. I don't order many sets so maybe I've slipped under the radar. Animas have also been great or stupid depending on which way you look at it, my pump which is past its warranty broke and they replaced it thinking was still under warranty and upgraded me for free so I'm not complaining. If I do get cut off I'll just have to pay myself but I think I'll have to scrap the idea of paying for the cgm myself in that case as I struggle with all my bills as it is never mind having to pay for all my medical essentials on top. Hoping a couple of decent jobs come up in Newcastle area so my husband and I can move and hopefully have better luck with the funding situation I felt that everyone except the lovely DSN was againist pumps in Aberdeen. I made formal complaints, written to my MSP (Alex Salmond) although he promised me a meeting last year and I'm still waiting apparently he's too busy! All it's done is nothing apart from the clinic not giving me appointments to see anyone, my gynaecologist just does all the blood tests I ask for, whenever I see her.
Sorry for the whinge, rant complete.

 

[donnellysdogs]

Crikey... You've made me feel really lucky!! At least welsh and english hospitals I have been too are actually fantastic with pumps and people.. Just not the paperwork!!

Lets hope you can get to Newcastle.

After I moved I found out the email addresses of the actual consultants for gastro and diabetes and asked them questions by email before deciding which hosp/consultant to go with.

 

[donnellysdogs]

Interesting though.. I didnt think if you were on a pump that they could refuse funding...?

 

[pumppimp]

Hi Donnellysdogs,
When I spoke to the nurse when we first met she said that they didn't have the funding available to keep funding people on pumps if they move into the area, I don't think I'm the only one who has had their funding refused the difference is I expect the rest of the people moving into the area are very likely something to do with the oil industry so their private health can cover the cost of sets etc. I'm just a researcher and am paid very little for what I actually do, I'm hoping by the time I finish my MRes (august 2014) that I'll be really well qualified and with 5 years substanial experience that I can get a well paying job with private health care as well! :lol:
I don't think it's very fair the situation all over Scotland is very poor for pump provision. I kicked up a big fuss a while back and reccomended a consultant to give advice to the scottish government to improve pump provision (David Kerr), they did get in contact with him and then made promises that they would extend pump provision
"A quarter of young Scots with type 1 diabetes will have access to insulin pumps by 2013, it was announced today. It was also confirmed that over the next three years, the number of insulin pumps available to people of all ages with type 1 diabetes will almost triple to more than 2,000"
this was oct 2011 and so far nothing has changed still waiting for my appointment with alex salmond to sort my own funding out that was prommised last oct as well.
Lots of people are put onto waiting lists even though waiting lists aren't supposed to exist for pump provision but because NHS Scotland is completely seperate from the NHS they don't have to follow the NICE guidelines. Nobody seems to really care but I'll keep fighting on till I get to change something for the better that's all I can hope.
Glad you've managed to get yours sorted, if I manage to move closer to the in-laws in newcastle I'll definitely do my research and pick the best consultant and pct area to be in

 

[VickiT11979]

I go to Newcastle Diabetes Centre & the pump consultant is Professor Jim Shaw, who is lovely, and has been very supportive of my wish to self fund CGM (let me have a Medtronic pump on loan so I could try their system), although he did say there was no chance of me getting NHS funding.
I just stayed with them when I moved to Gateshead, as I think they have more experience with pumps due to having a larger population. The pump DSN also said they get referrals in from as far as Carlisle, because other hospitals don't have the staff to do pump training for new starters quickly - the downside to that is that the Newcastle waiting list for new starters gets longer.

 

[ingrid]

Wow scary stories. I may have to move from N to S London in near future and apparently I'll be able to stay with my current hosp & consultant but would be under a new pct. So this question has been on my mind too. But with all the changes & privatisation of NHS, who knows what will happen?
INPUT are worth getting in touch with for any pump access/funding issues, it's what they are about. And they're very friendly lovely folk!