Non-availability of Libre sensors

[Aliisa]

My 4 year old grandson has been using Libre for about two years now. His mum and dad can’t get them on prescription so have been buying them. They’re expensive but they’re willing to pay the price as Harvey can’t tell when he’s having a hyper or hypo. They now have a problem in that they can’t get the sensors. They’ve contacted Abbott’s but they’re not having much luck there. Is anyone else experiencing this problem and, if so, how are they coping with it?

 

[therower]

Hi @Aliisa. There has been a lot of discussion recently about libre availability. Although I don't use the libre many on the forum do.
It seems that Abbotts are prioritising high street suppliers. Asda and Boots come to mind. Apparently sensors can be ordered and collected within 48 hrs.
A visit to the Blood Glucose Monitoring sub forum should give more information.

 

[Scott-C]

Hi, @Aliisa , like @therower says, it's a bit of a transitional period at the moment with libre supply.

Used to be that we'd just go online, order, pay, delivered.

But the big change recently has been that some health areas have decided to start prescribing it on the NHS. It's still a huge postcode lottery - some areas are prescribing it freely, most are not - so Abbott seem to be saying, ok, it's now on the NHS in some areas, there'll be people walking into chemists with prescriptions, so we need to make sure those can be met. And that's likely had a knock-on effect for online orders.

Most chemists hadn't even heard of libre until a few weeks ago, but they've now got people turning up with either prescriptions, or trying to buy them. It's a bit of a quantum shift for them, and some have dealt with the change better than others.

It's definitely worthwhile having a trawl round some local chemists to see whether they're up to speed with it or not. Some will say, never heard of it, some will say, sure, how many do you want, it'll be in tomorrow. Best bet is in the chemists located in supermarkets. Some are even selling at the NHS negotiated price, £35, but they're few and far between.

It's a transitional period in supply methods and those are always going to be messy for a while.

It's like the Wild West at the moment, but it'll likely settle down once chemists/Abbott sort out the distribution mechanics.

Of course, that still leaves wee Harvey offline now. If the situation in your area doesn't look like it's going to settle down anytime soon, there's always the option of trying him with the Dexcom cgm system. It's technically twice the price of libre, £200 per month, but there's ways of tweaking it to make it run longer so the price comes down to about the same as libre. I bought a kit as a hedge when supplies in my area were looking dubious and they delivered in a few days.

 

[therower]

@Scott-C . Thanks for all the information.

 

[Aliisa]

Hi @Aliisa. There has been a lot of discussion recently about libre availability. Although I don't use the libre many on the forum do.
It seems that Abbotts are prioritising high street suppliers. Asda and Boots come to mind. Apparently sensors can be ordered and collected within 48 hrs.
A visit to the Blood Glucose Monitoring sub forum should give more information.

Thanks for the suggestion. I’ll give it a try.

 

[Aliisa]

Hi, @Aliisa , like @therower says, it's a bit of a transitional period at the moment with libre supply.

Used to be that we'd just go online, order, pay, delivered.

But the big change recently has been that some health areas have decided to start prescribing it on the NHS. It's still a huge postcode lottery - some areas are prescribing it freely, most are not - so Abbott seem to be saying, ok, it's now on the NHS in some areas, there'll be people walking into chemists with prescriptions, so we need to make sure those can be met. And that's likely had a knock-on effect for online orders.

Most chemists hadn't even heard of libre until a few weeks ago, but they've now got people turning up with either prescriptions, or trying to buy them. It's a bit of a quantum shift for them, and some have dealt with the change better than others.

It's definitely worthwhile having a trawl round some local chemists to see whether they're up to speed with it or not. Some will say, never heard of it, some will say, sure, how many do you want, it'll be in tomorrow. Best bet is in the chemists located in supermarkets. Some are even selling at the NHS negotiated price, £35, but they're few and far between.

It's a transitional period in supply methods and those are always going to be messy for a while.

It's like the Wild West at the moment, but it'll likely settle down once chemists/Abbott sort out the distribution mechanics.

Of course, that still leaves wee Harvey offline now. If the situation in your area doesn't look like it's going to settle down anytime soon, there's always the option of trying him with the Dexcom cgm system. It's technically twice the price of libre, £200 per month, but there's ways of tweaking it to make it run longer so the price comes down to about the same as libre. I bought a kit as a hedge when supplies in my area were looking dubious and they delivered in a few days.

Thanks for this Scott. I’ll have a word with his dad.