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Type 1 Dvla Licence Renewal

Peppergirl

Well-Known Member
Messages
211
Location
Ellesmere Port
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
My three year licence renewal is due in October. I've attended DSN appointments this year for the libre, but the last consultant appointment was over a year ago (May 17). Its due in December as I didn't need to see him again before then. Would it be enough for me to have regular appointments with the DSN or would it be an issue with the DVLA that I've not seen a consultant in 12 months?
 
 
I can't remember the last time I saw a consultant - years and years - I see my DSN and I've had no problems with my licence.
 
I live in Buckinghamshire and whilst here have never seen a consultant only my DSN
however Somerset seems to be better organised and every other quarterly appointment
was with a consultant. Never had any problems with my licence
 
I'm lucky in the sense that my Consultant Annual Appt is usually in the 6 mths or so before I renew my licence. When I fill the forms in, they get the details of my consultant, my optician and my GP's practice. I've never had a problem renewing my licence, despite being on Insulin etc for 28 years+.
 
Hi Peppergirl.... I have thought of using the Libre but whilst on an NHS Carbs 4 1 course, we were told by the Diabetic Nurse that the results that the Libre give you are always around 15 minutes behind in real time, so they do not give you a real upto date reading and because of this and the fact that it is not a blood test, DVLA do not recognise the Libre as a test prior to driving... They said it's okay if you want to use it normally but before driving you would have to take a blood test, so I decided not to use it for that reason.
 
Peppergirl,

Sadly no, on the DIAB form (and indeed the VDIAB1I - the corresponding form for Vocational drivers) only has fields for you to give consultants and GP details, so when the say healthcare professional they mean either of your named professionals. Since you are on insulin the usual protocol is to see a GP at diabetic satellite clinics or diabetic hospital clinics although you may not see a doctor at every clinic, but will see the doctor at at least alternate clinics.

They will only refer back to a GP nurse or hospital nurse specialist, in the case of diabetics on tablets only.

For Vocational drivers the process is more complicated with a series of 3 forms, where the 2nd form are to be completed by one of the doctors named on the stage 1 form. GP nurses have made the mistake of filling in DIAB2 forms and drivers have had their licences revoked if the licence has already expired.
I am T2
 
Also DVLA Medical do not consider continuous data from the Libre, it has to be from fingerpricks, the libre can do fingerprick tests but some CCGS are very pedantic and obstructive as to what test strips they will allow to be prescribed. They are the Freestyle Optium strips, the libre meter can also do ketone tests with Freestyle Optium Ketone test strips which come in packs of 10 rather than 50, they are both foil wrapped so they do not need a tubs with dessicant linings, so the strips have a very long life compared with those in tubs which have to be discarded after a month. Freestyle Optium Ketone strips can only be prescribed for T1s, again I have asked.
But a Consultant or GP running satellite clinics knows how to override the CCG diktats and will assist you. I had to do this and I do use a libre for fingerpricks which I can easily do 7 times in a 10 hour working day of driving. Abbott do not talk of the Libre being able to do fingerpricks in any of their publucity blurb until you actually start to read the manual.

I actually list on my renewal forms (annually since I'm a vocational driver) the GP who runs the satellite clinic rather than my listed GP but rarely see him, he is the senior partner in the practise of 12+ doctors (2 GP clinic sites) and have only seen my listed doctor 4 or 5 times since I was diagnosed 20 years ago, 3 other doctors run the Diabetic clinics. I have not seen a hospital diabetic consultant in 4 years.

PM me if you ever need the code to change settings on either an InsuLinx or Libre meter.
 
Where I live we are only referred to a consultant if there is a problem only see DSN now (when the practice actually has one, that is)!!
 
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