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Where do pumps come from?

gillkin

Active Member
Messages
39
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Does anybody know how long it takes to get a pump once it's actually been ordered for you? I went for my training 4 weeks ago and was given a "dummy" pump to get used to the buttons, the DSN told me she was ordering mine the next day and I should have it soon but still waiting. Do they come from abroad?

Thanks

Gill
 

You have the pump by now.
Have you spoken to your DSN, if not do so? If no sensible answer from her ring your PCT and ask how long it takes for paper work to be sorted.
 
Not sure which pump you're getting but I've got the Accu-Chek Spirit Combo, and I was told they come from Germany apparently. It took mine about 3 weeks to come.
 
I wouldnt hold your breath, the nurse may have ordered it 4 weeks ago but it wont be bought until the trust has the budget for it. Could be this week or the next financial year if they have no funds left.

My local Health Care Trust is on the verge of bankruptcy apparently, so much debt due to being ripped off by a private care initiative who built a new hospital and charges 70% interest (according to Panorama), and its unlikely the trust will be able to pay the massive interest bill this year :cry: Should be interesting watching the bailiffs go in and unhooking patients from their life support machines.

I may be being a little dramatic here but thats because I am very angry.
 
Sid is probably correct. Some PCTs are able to agree to funding within a few weeks of an application being made while others take a bit longer, sometimes this is due to the consultant though. I waited for about 9 weeks before I was able to find out that my name was in the group of people that the PCT had agreed funding. I then had to book an appt with my dsn who then had to book an appt with the pump rep before I finally came home with my pump. So altogether I waited from March till mid June.

Best advice is to be patient but also to phone your PCT to enquire whether they have received the application, if they can't give you an answer, then phone your hospital dsn.

Where do insulin pumps come from ........ good question. I'm sure they are mass produced in factories abroad. My infusion sets now come from Poland. Where the Diestronic pump is made and the cartridges, is probably another European country.
 
Thanks for the replies folks,

I was finally told I could have the pump in October and the process was, you went on one Monday for the training and then the following Monday you started to use it. I was told I would be getting it just after Christmas because there was only one person ahead of me and they were starting at the end of October.

I got a call in February to tell me to come in for the training session and assumed they must have my pump and I would be starting to use it a week later. When I went in, the DSN showed me the pump (MiniMed Paradigm Veo) and it's functions, got me to insert a cannula for practice and gave me a pump to get used to the buttons but not actually use yet, she then asked me what colour I wanted because she was ordering mine the next day. I was surprised by this and said I had kept some annual leave so that I could take a few days off to get used to it and that I needed to take the leave by the end of March, she said it shouldn't take that long and took my mobile number & Work number so she could let me know as soon as it came in.

As it's now over 4 weeks and I've not been contacted, it would appear that it hasn't arrived yet, this is why I thought it might be coming from abroad.

I completely understand how you feel Sid, it's an absolute disgrace and it will probably get much worse, private industry is not interested in people just profit.
 
Gillkin

I assume, as you have had your training, that funding has been approved. When I had my training by another PTC, not my own, each thought the other had ordered the pump, so I had the loaner. However, once the situation had been realised, by the next week mine had arrived at the hospital where the training was being carried out.

With regards to where they come from, all I can say for certain is that Accu-Chek pumps are Swiss and, at least, the spirit are stamped as such.
 
pickle76 said:
Borofergie - Ha! My thoughts exactly.... :wink:
Click to expand...
+1 :lol:
was going to say "under a gooseberry bush" or "the stork brings them"
 

hahaha could not stop laughing...." and baby pumps happen "

I am actually waiting for a baby pump....the Paradigm Veo with the small reservoir and if the pump clinic think I am inserting a cannula only to pull it out again without my new pump to attach it to well they can take a long walk off a short pier hahah mmmm I want to start using it right away!
 
I got a new pump just before Christmas. I'd Bennett told it was being ordered at the end of October and would take a couple of weeks. I eventually rang the DSN a week before Christmas to he told that they had my pump but had been to busy to ring me to let me know. That made me feel great, the implication that I was the least important of their patients!

Hassle them, it's the only way to get yourself heard.
 
I rang on Friday but the DSN I see was on leave, one of the others rang me back to say there had been a problem with the Rep but they were expecting it to be delivered this week??, got a call yesterday afternoon to say it had arrived so going to get it on Monday. Hooray
 
Ahhh

Am pleased for you (you've been waiting a long time).

Take it all in your stride (a pump is just an alternative way of delivering insulin). Once you've figured out how to alter your basal rates and bolus ratios, all you've got to do then is test your bg levels and learn from the results you get.

Make sure your GP will prescribe you about 300 strips per month as you will need them.
 
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