GP surgery making me change my meter

They changed mine the same way.
I would assume it's because the nhs here normally only issue one type of meter, and strips. The existing supplier no doubt lost the contract to the new supplier. Perfect business sense from the nhs for a change. Both work as well, both read the same near enough,

Mine too I will give it ago and see the only thing is if they hold the market will they get complacent also do you know if only type 2s or is everybody changing mine is allegedly voluntary at the moment we will see I am on mdi levimir and novo rapid my needles are being changed aswell

This has happened to quite a few people and to be honest, it sort of makes sense. Imagine the buying power of the NHS if they standardised a meter ? As long as it works and is reliable ( as best can be ) then I can't see a problem. I'm not sure what meter they gave you but the only thing I'd say in addition is after my recent DAFNE course I was told you should have a meter than can test for Ketones as the urine sticks are not recommended now as not accurate enough.

Yes, it happened to me in the Autumn; the surgery went for the MyPura. We were called in a for a demo and told that it was largely to save test strip cost but they were happy with the new meter which does seem to be quite good. We told that it wasn't mandatory to change our test strip script if we wished to stay with our current meter. So, very fair.

It also happened to me. I am very happy with my current meter which is a Bayer contour USB because it is small, has a non slip skin and is easy to charge.
So I told them I didn't wish to change and they seemed to be happy with that.

mo1905 said:

This has happened to quite a few people and to be honest, it sort of makes sense. Imagine the buying power of the NHS if they standardised a meter ? As long as it works and is reliable ( as best can be ) then I can't see a problem. I'm not sure what meter they gave you but the only thing I'd say in addition is after my recent DAFNE course I was told you should have a meter than can test for Ketones as the urine sticks are not recommended now as not accurate enough.

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I do agree Mo but some meters are quite basic compared to others and certain features like inputting carbs and insulin doses is quite useful than keeping a diary. I probably use quite an expensive meter (Aviva Expert) although the strips won't be any more expensive than most other makes (with the exception of the SD Codefree) but to give this up for a more basic version would be very disappointing.....although I do see that the spiralling cost of prescribing test strips is a big drain on NHS finances.

Perhaps the Dept of Health need to put more pressure on the meter manufacturers to bring the price of their test strips down, they seem so expensive for what they are!

Totally agree Noblehead, there are meters out there with bells and whistles and some really useful additional functions and if I had one, I wouldn't be too happy giving it up. I guess I was just saying that it does make good sense to try to standardise NHS meters, as long as they are fit for purpose. Failing that, maybe the NHS or the Gov't could push for universal test strips that fit all meters ? Won't keep the manufacturers happy but the NHS is a very lucrative contract.


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Mo, as we know the profit is in the strips and that is why they are all so happy to give the meters away for free, the SD meter (with the cheap test strips) should have sent shock-waves through the industry but there's conflicting opinions on how accurate it is and at best it's very basic, although I've not used one I don't think you can log carbs, insulin doses and exercise etc into the meter.

My thoughts are that the gravy train should have hit the buffers long ago, the test strips should be at an affordable price to the NHS and those who are unfortunate not to get them on prescription, it would be interesting to know how much profit they make on each pack of 50 strips.

They must cost pennies to produce !


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mo1905 said:

They must cost pennies to produce !


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Agreed, would love to know what profit is made as I said.

My first bg meter you could cut the strip up into 2 or 3 strips which meant the pot went further, for a rough idea of your bg reading you could compare the colour of the strip to a colour chart that was on the side of the test strip container, it wouldn't work in the meter if you cut the strip but the colour chart was a good idea back then and it was my DSN who suggested I do this, I think at the time a lot of diabetics did this.

I think at some point the manufacturers caught on to this and stopped printing the charts on the side of the pots, plus they've designed the strips as such that the blood is drawn into the strip under a sleeve which means you couldn't do this any-more even if you wanted.