Freestyle libre patches

chrisf-1 said:

Hi everyone I have been a member for some time but have never posted so here I am a virgin poster, the reason for this is I am very interested in the freestyle libre glucose monitoring system and I read somewhere the other day that as I have type 1 I can get the patches on the NHS so I will only have to buy the starter pack can anyone confirm this is correct as I my fingers are now developing very hard skin and often do not give enough blood to test many thanks Chris

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Chris, I'm afraid that's not the case, unless your Doc will give you a sample sensor or something. The stark reality is that the Libre has been approved for use, but not yet for prescribing, so you can certainly use the Libre, but it would be self-funded for the time being. I imagine they're working hard on the approval front.

Many people use a sensor from time to time, rather than all the time. However, I do feel I should say that even if you are using the Libre, you will not be able to stop testing altogether. For example, you would still need to do finger prick testing for driving, as the DVLA requirements wording is quite specific.

Sorry to disappoint you. You have to buy the sensors and meter. They are not available on NHS.

Chris, this also is my first post, although I have followed the forum for some time, so apologies if I mess up this post! I suffer from the same well-worn fingers due to finger pricking, having been diabetic for 50 years and been blood testing for as long as I can remember. I started using the Freestyle Libre a few months ago, and it is a huge relief to my fingers, but to reduce the cost I leave a week's gap between sensors. I have had very few problems with the Libre, as readings seem to be within reasonable variation of Accu-Chek Mobile results. My last sensor failed after only 9 days, but Abbot have agreed to replace it free of charge. Anyway, the reason for this post was to say that there is now a free app provided by Abbot for Android smartphones, LibreLink, so if you do decide to go ahead and try the Freestyle Libre it seems you can save yourself the cost of the Freestyle reader if you have an Android phone (seems not yet available for Iphones).