Can GP's change my meter

I'm a Type 2 and get limited strips on prescription. When I went for my annual review in November I was told that they were no longer prescribing strips for my One Touch meter due to costs and that they had done a deal for strips on four meters. None of them were the major brand names. I ended up with a Glucolab one (there was a better known make but the nurse didn't have any left).

It does read slightly higher than my One Touch machine, the case is a bit more bulky. I will use it, but just before this I had stocked up on strips for my One Touch machine from Ebay, so don't have to use it yet.

I don't intend to use the finger pricker that came with it, it is a bit strange, so will continue to use my One Touch finger pricker, so she didn't change my prescription for Abbot thin lancets - they come in boxes of 200 and I get 150 strips a year on prescription. I don't change them every time I test anyway.

You can certainly put a case forward about your old meter but your surgery can change your meter if they want unfortunately. It's happening quite a lot and annoying as it is I do think it makes sense to try to standardise things somewhat. There have been a few on the forum though that after asking have successfully kept their old meters. Good luck.


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My surgery tried this. I also got a letter telling me that they are changing me over and that I should drop in at the surgery to collect my new meter. It was alot bigger than my accu check meter at the time. I said no and that it was too bulky for me to carry around. They never really had a choice but to keep dispensing accu check. If your meter has a bolus wizard....and the new meter does not.... can also use that as a reason. A friend had the same. When he got the new meter, it was white in colour and he refused it on those grounds saying that it was too noticeable and that his current meter was more discreet!

I would argue for your old machine as some of the new machines use a horrible needle gun


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My surgery recently changed to a MyPura meter for cost saving reasons but it's a nice meter and the lancets are very fine. My DN said I could stay with my One Touch strips if I wished but I agreed to the change to save cost to the NHS.

well i think its a good thing your GP changing all the patents BGmeters to one type so that there all use the same test strips.it just shows your GP gets visits from a diabetic representative and is getting discounts on the purchase of one kind of meter.

Hi there are now a number of meters with more cost effective strips ie saving the NHS approximately £5 per 50 strips, which can be a huge saving for practices, this money can then be used to support other medications.
The meters selected would have been chosen in conjunction with the local DCNS and will have to meet the latest standards. Ask the practice for an appointment so you can see the new meter and discuss any advantages and your concerns.
The meters are supplied by the manufacturers free of charge and so they are always willing to give them to the practices, the money is made on the cost of the strips.


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My friend and I were both changed over from our favourite meters to a Glucolab meter which was because the testing strips were cheaper than others that were being prescribed. It was supposed to make it better if everyone was on the same meter. From the start we both had problems with the meters. If the aim was to keep the costs down it went badly wrong because we had very frequent error messages meaning that we had to use another test strip after having the error message, usually that we had just inserted a wet or used test strip when it had come straight from the closed tub of strips. The meter would read higher than our old meters and even when I had hypo feelings it would show that I wasn't hypo. I checked with my old meter and it read 3.5 yet the Glucolab read 4.5 and while showing a higher reading wouldn't matter if the readings were at higher levels, if it's measuring low blood sugar then a difference of one or more could be dangerous.

The assistant at my local pharmacy said they had heard many complaints about the meter and when I told my diabetes nurse that I wasn't happy with it she said she had heard the same. I was given a different meter, a Wavesense Jazz and have been entirely satisfied with it and have not had one error message since I started using it. I have checked it with one of my old meters and there is no difference in the readings.

Ancient - a bolus wizard is when the meter works out for you how much insulin to take when testing based upon carbs in that meal.

I really believe you should use the meter you feel comfortable with. we all have different lifestyles and different needs so your meter should be suited to you. These new cheap strips and meters may save the GP practice some money but then you have other issues too. Some of these cheap strips require much bigger drops of blood too so you have to do a deeper more painfull prick which just leaves your finger tips in a mess if you test 8-10 times a day. You squeeze something too hard or lift something heavy and the finger tip bleeds. I train with weights in the gym. When I used those cheap meters, my fingers sometimes bled when lifting weights. I then had to clean the weights and get the staff to disinfect them - this is why I believe you should use a meter which fits your lifestyle and not necessary the GP.

If the NHS REALLY wanted to save money.... why dont they come up with a sensor implant which then sends a reading every few seconds to a device. If they can do other types of implants then why not for testing blood? The pharmaceutical companies obviously make too much money on strips which is why they have not invented some kind of device. The government should be putting pressure on the pharma companies and not on the NHS or GP surgeries. (thats just my thought)
Imagine having a Dexcom type of device that works off an implanted sensor? Diabetics would have better control and in the long term we would cost the NHS less and complications caused from diabetes would vastly be reduced. Having this linked to say a pod insulin pump would be almost like having a working pancreas again.

I had a similar situation, you can read about it here, hope it helps......

http://www.diabetes.co.uk/forum/threads/must-i-do-as-im-told.43547/