Spoke to Nurse

[Sueper]

Hi Folks, Spoke to diabetic nurse today & i am going to see her next tues. I asked about a meter as i had spoken to my daughter last night (she is a surgeon of lower limbs in the U.S & therefore deals with many diabetic patients) & she said that although i am going to be diet controlled for 3 months it is VERY important that i have a meter to check how my blood sugars react to diff foods. In the U.S they only have them diet controlled for 1 month then put on meds. Anyways nurse said nope i would not get a meter & she woud explain why next tues! So i have a breeze2 meter of my own & am trawling the net looking for the cheapest strips. I already have a heart defect high cholestrol & various other illnesses. My daughter explained that due to this i have to be very careful of my lifestyle therefore i want to get my blood sugar under control.
Nurse said they only give meters out to Type1 patients?

 

[Grazer]

Some only give them out to patients on insulin or other drugs where "the patient is in danger of hypos", others issue them to all diabetics. The excuse your nurse will give you will be along the lines of "There's nothing you can do about it so why test" - nonsense, you avoid eating that again - or "it only worries people" or "you can't get hypos so you don't need to" - yes you do, to work out what you can eat and how much etc.
Of course you need strips - my answer on your other thread applies here. viewtopic.php?f=39&t=25163
It is for this reason we have our e petition asking for testing facilities for all diabetics. If you haven't signed yet, here it is :-
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20537 Please sign, and show it to your nurse!

 

[Sueper]

Hi Grazer, Thanks i have signed petition its ridiculous they dont give meters out i agree you need to know what to eat & what not to eat! I hope the petition helps

Sue

 

[douglas99]

Mine was honest.
She said they cost the NHS too much for strips, so they couldn't issue them any more.

I have a GlucoRX Nexus, it's cheaper on test strips then others, and it's a cheap meter (even cheaper when GlucoRX sent me a free one to use)

I have been told we shouldn't be paying vat on these either, but I don't know how that works, so hopefully someone else can explain that.

(Maybe what we need on here is the best prices for strips, best place to source meters from, vat friendly companies, etc as a sticky at the top, as I can't see us type 2's getting them from the NHS anymore, and paying £25+ for 50 strips seems to be the average high street price.)

 

[daisy3174]

Hi dont know if this helps but Ebay do some cheap strips (various ones).I bought 50 Aviva Accucheck strips for £14 on there.Our tesco do the Aviva Accucheck Meter + 17 Strips, Lancets for £6.80, dont know if all do x

 

[Sueper]

Thanks Daisy, I have a breeze2 that i have had for a while so have sourced some strips on ebay thanks

 

[douglas99]

Hi dont know if this helps but Ebay do some cheap strips (various ones).I bought 50 Aviva Accucheck strips for £14 on there.Our tesco do the Aviva Accucheck Meter + 17 Strips, Lancets for £6.80, dont know if all do x

I've got nothing against ebay, but I've never fancied buying test strips or lancets from there.
That's the other problem with forcing users to buy their own, you need to be sure of what you're getting, and where they come from. At least NHS supplied ones come through a traceable supply chain.

 

[borofergie]

I've got nothing against ebay, but I've never fancied buying test strips or lancets from there.
That's the other problem with forcing users to buy their own, you need to be sure of what you're getting, and where they come from. At least NHS supplied ones come through a traceable supply chain.

I'm not sure that this is a valid concern. Both ebay and Amazon marketplace are governed by a Seller Reputation score. As long as you are buying from a seller with an established reputation, it's difficult to see how it can be much worse than buying it from the high-street.

I presume that strips are technologically sophisticated enough that they would be difficult to conterfeit (and even if you did, it would become immediately obvious as soon as you plugged it into your meter).

All of my strips come in a sealed plastic container with an expiry date stamped on the side, so it's also unlikely that you'd find yourself with a box of damaged or expired strips.

Someone on DUK once suggested that it is immoral to buy ebay strips because some of them might be unused NHS prescription being resold by diabetics. That doesn't bother me any. I should be getting them for free anyway, anything that floods the market, keeps the prices down.

Stephen

 

[Sueper]

Agree with you boro! I dont care where i get them from so long as they are cheap & i dare say they are probably someone's prescription but they are in sealed containers so it doesn't bother me :thumbup: