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hospital

I hope you continue to feel better Ally. I have to say but the more I read/hear about the health system in England the more I think we have a much better deal over here (Oz). We do pay for a proportion of a GP visit here. When we have blood tests we take the form to the pathology office and get the test done. Then the GP office call if there's a problem. You can get a copy of the test results either from the doctor or the lab. I once asked a lab to send me blood test results for the last 6 years and they just sent them on.... I figure we've paid for them (through Medicare) so are entitled to copies. All doctors and specialists here bill through Medicare so we do pay for some of it, but it seems we don't have to wait that long for appointments and we only go to hospital for illness/operations etc.

I am curious to know how much the strips are in UK? My endo said if you are diabetic you can get the strips on prescription and he will 'wangle' it for me next time I go in. I paid $65 for a jar of 100 (around 29 UK pounds). I did ask on another forum but nobody answered
 
Here in Spain a pot of 50 strips for a contour Xt meter are 45 euros so as a type 2 you are allowed one pot a year !!!
 
Most of us on here buy our own from Amazon, carefree, £6.99 for 50 but have a discount code for buying 5 pots for £24! Very few here get meters or strips on prescription now
 
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Unfortunately the NHS can be very patchy, people tend to think of it as a single organisation, but it isn't so each trust can do its own thing. It's why some T2 can get monitors and strips and some of us get told we really don't need to test. Each trust gets to decides where it's spending its budget.

I'm lucky the nurse or doctor always gives me the blood test print out, but the receptionist can't they can only say if the figures are 'good' or not.
 
connie104 said:
Here in Spain a pot of 50 strips for a contour Xt meter are 45 euros so as a type 2 you are allowed one pot a year !!!
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Hi Connie,
Here is a link to home health.
http://www.homehealth-uk.com
You say that you are diabetic when you tick the box. If you buy 5 pots you get them for £25 and the sd code free meter is about £12. Even with postage, cheaper than Spain!
Here is a picture of the discount code.
 
connie104 said:
Here in Spain a pot of 50 strips for a contour Xt meter are 45 euros so as a type 2 you are allowed one pot a year !!!
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I think that this is becoming common all over Europe. Here in France, there is legislation which sets out exactly how many strips that are allowed in each circumstance. So people on multiple injections or with gestational diabetes are told they should check at least 4 times a day.
People on sulfs and some other meds initially get up to 4 a day for titration purposes but then just 2 a week.(to confirm hypos)
Otherwise, type 2s will not have the cost of strips refunded except for a short period, in the context of education, (2 a day to 2 a week for a specific agreed purpose)
For anyone not on insulin, the maximum is set at 200 per year. (and it's made very clear ' that this is not systematic')

( A few years ago they announced that everyone, T1 or T2 ,insulin or not would be limited to 1 strip a day .The diabetes association mounted a media campaign which forced them to change their minds. This was the best 'deal' they could get)
 
I just went on Ebay and got a pack of 100 for just under $40 so that's a saving of $25 ... helps me as I am very mean with giving blood so waste quite a few cos I can't get enough blood out :-(
 
I have an Accu Chek mobile provided by my DN but no cassettes (strips) on prescription. Full retail price is £25 for 50 from pharmacies. I buy mine on eBay. My last lot were £35 for 200, which equates to £8.75 for 50, a saving of £16.25.
 
Bluetit1802 said:
I have an Accu Chek mobile provided by my DN but no cassettes (strips) on prescription. Full retail price is £25 for 50 from pharmacies. I buy mine on eBay. My last lot were £35 for 200, which equates to £8.75 for 50, a saving of £16.25.
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Sounds good Bluetit, Oviously if I can't get on prescription I will shop around
 
Anie said:
Hope your bg levels come down with your new medication. Glad you got out of the hospital, but don't forget if you get high readings again go back.
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hi, same happened to me only my bloods were higher. Hospital put me on an insulin pump over night to get levels down, I was discharged with a change of meds. From metformin to gliclazide (3 a day) no problems since, hope they sort it for you x
 
I'm in Scotland and get strips and lancets free, no prescription charges in Scotland, the hospital supplied my with a meter too
 
ally1 said:
on thursday, my BS was 37.1 and felt unwell so took myself off to hospital where i was kept in until this morning
my BS went down to 25.8 this morning and having to have BS tests every two days
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Have you any idea how you got that high?
I was rushed in when I phoned the out of hours with a reading of 27 and then an off the scale where the machine just said ... high.
I never sussed what caused it.
I'd had two weetabix in the morning and a ham salad in the evening and then around ten at nioght went really odd took my readings and the rest is history.
I don't have breakfast cereals at all now but there's no way two weetabix can have caused that fifteen hours later.
I get a meter and strips free in North Wales.
Five tubs of fifty a year.
FreeStyle Lite.
 
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