Help: Moving to England (London) with T1 and Insulin Pump

[Tomsy11]

Hi,


My partner and I are moving to London due to work relocation.

She is Diabetic Type 1, currently using an insulin pump, the Medtronic 780G.


As we are coming from EU, we are a worried of running out of supplies and being with no Nurses/Endocrino to reach out to in case of any issues.

At the moment, she can reach out to her diabetic clinic, and they will answer and provide guidance if she needs to changes any settings, etc.

As per our understanding, once we arrive in London, we need to first get referred to a GP, which would then refer her to a Diabetic Clinic, but that could apparently take months.

The risk of being without support/supplies for that long is scary for her and we are worried about the impact on her health.


We would be grateful to receive any advice and recommendation on the best way to approach this situation and be reassured in our move, ensuring we have the necessary support.

Additionally, could you recommend GP, Diabetic clinics that offers Medtronic 780G and could prescribe the supplies and insulin for the pump, have quick referral but most importantly that offer amazing support like we have at the moment ?


Thank you for taking the time helping us

 

[mouseee]

Welcome!
You'll have plenty of people to give advice about moving countries along soon on the thread, but with regards to GP, you just register for the closest one directly. No referral there at all. Could be done the day you arrive. You can also ring and speak to the surgery you want to register with before the move. They may be able to advise you as you're coming from abroad.

The company you're working with/for may be able to help and give advice. Might be worth talking to HR.

 

[EllieM]

Hi @TomsyT1 and welcome to the forums

Forum rules on privacy mean we can't name specific GPs or consultants on the open forum. I've moved countries a couple of times and worked on the principle of bringing 3 to 6 months of diabetic supplies with me, though I am self sufficient as regards diabetic advice. (Nothing to stop you ringing 111 if you need advice in an emergency though).

The good news is that there are a large number of hospitals with diabetic clinics in London. The one you access will depend a bit on location though, and if your wife intends to continue with the medtronic she should go to a hospital that supports this pump. (My understanding is that different hospitals have different pumps).

You could contact medtronic to get a recommendation as to which London hospitals support their pump.

You could also direct some questions to the UK diabetes charity which have a diabetes helpline that can give diabetes specific advice and also do advocacy.
https://www.diabetes.org.uk/how_we_help/helpline

Good luck with your move.

 

[etmsreec]

I’m on a pump (Omnipod), and they are supported by many diabetes services in the UK.
The GP registration should be fairly quick, given your partner’s medical status. They will be able to request a referral to an insulin pump service when they see the GP. Not all diabetes services are able to support patients on insulin pumps, so that will be an important factor. I would advise searching online for a hospital that you think will be convenient for you and contact them to see if they support pump users, how many diabetes specialist nurses they have, and whether they support any patients on the Medtronic.
It may be helpful to get copies of any correspondence from your partner’s old diabetes service, but I do recognise that there may be a language barrier there! A copy of the repeat prescription list to allow the UK GP to see which medications they’re on would probably be helpful too.
Freestyle Libre 2 is the glucose monitoring device that’s probably most common in the UK at the moment, so I would hope your partner would be able to get them on prescription here.
Good luck and welcome!

 

[hboyt]

When I moved to the UK 10 years ago, I went to the GP registered there, applied for a NHS number, and applied for a medical exemption so you get medicines free on NHS (need to prove you are a UK resident) and took all my prescriptions and the GP then can get your prescriptions sorted. 10 years ago was test strips, insulin pens, and ketone strips. This was before I had a pump tho so I'm not sure how the prescription would work for that as the hospital I was referred to is the one prescribing the pump supplies. Not sure helpful on the pump supplies but wonder if the GP can prescribe until you get into a hospital? Worth an ask to the GP. I go to Kings College Hospital in Denmark Hill London and they support Medtronic, Tandem and Omnipod pumps. I have heard recently their waiting list to get in there is long these days....