No aftercare support

[Tracey167]

Hi

I was put onto the medtronics veo insulin pump in july and had to go to my hospital to have a 3 hour talk on how to use it by medtronics and also learn how to attach the cannulars. I came away feeling abit nervous as it was all new to me but i read through the manual i had and plodded on.

Three weeks later my sugar levels are through the roof and im having to do correction doses with my insulin pen, i had no follow on appointments with my doctor or nurse and all medtronics said was if you have a problem ring there careline where i would be talking to a complete stranger who's probably not medically trained just call centre staff. Then a week ago that was it i felt so rough with my sugars being so high i returned the pump to the hospital and went back onto what i was used to my good old insulin pen. Last week i has a routine check up with a community diabetic nurse and i explained to her the problems i had, she was disgusted that i never recieved ant aftercare she told me i should have had regular checks with a diabetic nurse to check my doses on the pump, she told me that if i had been refered to kings college hospital in london i would have had to been accessed and would have had to do the dafne course before they would consider giving me a pump (hence never been on the dafne course).

So i felt as if i was really let down by medtronics and the hospital, i had heard so many good things about the pump and to top it off before my husband asked 'does it have a alarm if your sugar levels are low' to which he was told 'yes' but the sensor you have to have attached to make the alarm work was not even mentioned at the talk let alone prescribed, so what was the point the reason i went for the pump was because of my regular hypos and no awareness yet if my sugars was'nt through the roof they were low (hypo) and as for the insulin being suspended when hypo that did'nt happen and it was'nt even mentioned but i suppose you had to have the sensor for that to work as well.

So i am back to my insulin pen now everything would have been great if i had had the right care

Tracey167

 

[sugar2]

I am not a meditronic user, as I have an accuchek, but I think that you should have received more training before you got the pump. Not just which buttons to press, but also in carb counting and dose adjudstemnt! If you have not had teh training to do that, then a pump will not help...as you have to understand your diabetes care enough to be able to use it.

What a shame! You clearly needed more support, but I am surprised that you took teh pump back! Try and do teh online Dafne course, and see how you do with that? Then, maybe revisit the pump again?

I don't think that it is down to the manufacturer to do this. YOour HCP should have made sure that you were ready for the pump. I got my pump in Feb...and had my first follow up appointment last week...so it really is something that you have to perservere with.

All the best

 

[Tracey167]

Hi

Yes i agree that i should have had more training i mean just having a 3 hour talk to me is definatley not enough especially when i have read about other pump users having 2-3 day training. I know its not the pumps fault but i felt as if i was just left to get on with it no mention of a follow up appointment to see a nurse or my consultant it all seemed it abit rush rush. I was only told to do carb counting about 1 -2 months before getting the pump i was told i was on the waiting list for the DAFNE course but never heard nothing and when i asked about it i was told they had no funding at the moment (i went on the waiting list in february 2010). Then i hear a women who lives not far from me also a type 1 diabetic has just started the DAFNE course. It just feels the healthcare where i live (kent) is terrible,hence one of the reasons we are moving back to essex in 2 weeks as well as to be closer to our family.

Tracey167