Picked up a prescription the other day for testing strips and noticed that Lifescan are now packing 50 test strips into one little tub instead of the previous 25. (OneTouch Ultra).
Now, there are 400,000 type 1 diabetics in the UK so let’s assume an average of 4 tests per day each. That’s 1.6M tests per day which is 584M tests per annum. Divide that amount by 25 strips per little tub and you get 23.36M little tubs.
So, some genius has now cut that down to 11.68M tubs. I have no idea how much a tub like this would cost, there is a little “pip” on the bottom so I assume it’s moulded and thus reasonably cheap. Even if you said £0.20 a go then they have saved £1.168M per annum. That is for T1’s only and for the UK only. Worldwide savings for T1 and T2??
I know Lifescan are not the only supplier of strips and there are lots of variations but I do wonder how much of this saving has filtered down to the NHS.
Oh, and now they only pack one tub into a cardboard box instead of two so they’ve saved further there. Is the cardboard box required? I think not.
My excuse for thinking about this instead of working is that I cost things for a living so it took my interest.
Now, there are 400,000 type 1 diabetics in the UK so let’s assume an average of 4 tests per day each. That’s 1.6M tests per day which is 584M tests per annum. Divide that amount by 25 strips per little tub and you get 23.36M little tubs.
So, some genius has now cut that down to 11.68M tubs. I have no idea how much a tub like this would cost, there is a little “pip” on the bottom so I assume it’s moulded and thus reasonably cheap. Even if you said £0.20 a go then they have saved £1.168M per annum. That is for T1’s only and for the UK only. Worldwide savings for T1 and T2??
I know Lifescan are not the only supplier of strips and there are lots of variations but I do wonder how much of this saving has filtered down to the NHS.
Oh, and now they only pack one tub into a cardboard box instead of two so they’ve saved further there. Is the cardboard box required? I think not.
My excuse for thinking about this instead of working is that I cost things for a living so it took my interest.