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Testing strips

LincolnLizzie

LincolnLizzie

Well-Known Member
Messages
144
Type of diabetes
Type 2
My meter has died and I have unused testing strips which are now not needed as my surgery has switched me over to a different make. Can I sell these on eBay - is it ethical to do so? In a quandary as the cash would be useful but I feel uncomfortable about it.
 
I assume you got the strips from the NHS but, for me, this would make little difference.
If the alternative is for them to go to waste (which I think is unethical), unless you know someone in need to give them to, I see no problem with selling them.
If it makes you feel better, you could make a small donation to a diabetes charity.
 
Plenty do sell them on eBay. I am a self funding Type 2 and I test a lot. Buying on eBay allows me to do this. If I had to pay full retail price I wouldn't be able to continue with my current meter. So those that are selling on eBay are helping self funding T2s. like me.
 
Am type2 and self fund my test strips. I pay around 8pound per tub. At the moment I can afford to buy them. I test regular because of other meds I am on cause my levels to rise
 
If you bought them yourself then it is ok to sell them. If they were supplied by the NHS then they are not yours to sell.
 
I gave away 4 x 100 boxes of NDSS subsidised Accu-Chek Performa strips, to someone who used the same meter when I got the the Abbot meter.

Made me feel good to help someone that had to pay full price for their strips.
 
LincolnLizzie said:
My meter has died and I have unused testing strips which are now not needed as my surgery has switched me over to a different make. Can I sell these on eBay - is it ethical to do so? In a quandary as the cash would be useful but I feel uncomfortable about it.
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Which meter are the strips for?

Many of the meter manufacturers will replace their meters free of change, if you call them.

As I've never been prescribed meter and strips, I have no personal experience with this, but it's worth considering perhaps.
 
Mr_Pot said:
If you bought them yourself then it is ok to sell them. If they were supplied by the NHS then they are not yours to sell.
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Well even if the OP returns them.to the pharmacy they would have to destroy them so he may as well see if anyone else wants them.....maybe not completely ethical but surely better than wasting perfectly good test strips?

.
 
Exactly my point .... short sighted and dumb to not sell them rather than see them destroyed for no good reason
 
Mike D said:
Exactly my point .... short sighted and dumb to not sell them rather than see them destroyed for no good reason
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It is a matter of principle. Clearly the OP is at one end of the spectrum but at the other end are those who deliberately obtain items on free prescription with the intent to sell them. How do you draw the line between what is allowed and what is fraud?
 
Mr_Pot said:
It is a matter of principle. Clearly the OP is at one end of the spectrum but at the other end are those who deliberately obtain items on free prescription with the intent to sell them. How do you draw the line between what is allowed and what is fraud?
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You've changed your tune 180 degrees ... and in principle, I agree with it. @LincolnLizzie is doing nothing wrong but you lumped her in with the frauds who take advantage of the system
 
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Mike D said:
You've changed your tune 180 degrees ... and in principle, I agree with it. @LincolnLizzie is doing nothing wrong but you lumped her in with the frauds who take advantage of the system
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I haven't changed my tune or my direction. In my first post I said that NHS prescribed strips are not the OP's to sell. This is the principle I refer to in my second post. The NHS, and therefore taxpayers, are providing the strips for the patients treatment, not for them to make a profit however small.
 
Mr_Pot said:
I haven't changed my tune or my direction. In my first post I said that NHS prescribed strips are not the OP's to sell. This is the principle I refer to in my second post. The NHS, and therefore taxpayers, are providing the strips for the patients treatment, not for them to make a profit however small.
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I understand where you are coming from, but when these strips are put on eBay who is buying them? Other diabetics are buying them. Why would anyone else want them? So in the end, selling them is helping other diabetics who are having to self fund. I see it as a win-win.
 
I paid into the NHS for years and when in the UK got strips and over the preceding years more than paid for them so yes I considered them to be mine..So I say go ahead and sell them its your choice. BTW now I live in Thailand with my Thai Wife who lived over 40 yrs with me in the U.K and worked for the NHS we both contributed to the NHS and now get no benefis. I know its our choice.
 
bangkokdiabetic said:
I paid into the NHS for years and when in the UK got strips and over the preceding years more than paid for them so yes I considered them to be mine..So I say go ahead and sell them its your choice. BTW now I live in Thailand with my Thai Wife who lived over 40 yrs with me in the U.K and worked for the NHS we both contributed to the NHS and now get no benefis. I know its our choice.
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I have paid for house insurance for 40 years without making a claim. So, would it be morally right to make a fraudulent claim because I have "more than paid for it"?
 
Fraudulent Claims are Fraud Illegal therefor a crime Getting Medicine from the NHS which you have paid into month after month Means you are getting what you have Paid for therefor if you Sell it its yours. Now if you paid into a heath insurance
scheme that paid for your medicine who would it belong to you or the insurance company ?? interesting but off point argument
 
Mr_Pot said:
I have paid for house insurance for 40 years without making a claim. So, would it be morally right to make a fraudulent claim because I have "more than paid for it"?
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Wow, that's a bit of a jump! I don't see where the fraud is or indeed any sense of wrongdoing. The OP has been switched to a different meter and her old test strips are now redundant. It is not as if she has deliberately obtained extra test strips with a view to selling them on and she (presumably) would have used them if the meter was still working.

The NHS would not take the strips back so they have effectively thrown them away and I don't see anything wrong with making a few quid out of it, and possibly helping other self funders.
 
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