- Messages
- 1,186
- Type of diabetes
- Treatment type
- Tablets (oral)
Like many I have been forced to accept a change of meter by my HCP as they now only have a couple they are prepared to supply strips for, so yesterday I received my shiny new GlucoRX Nessus.
My first though on opening the box was "my god, it's huge", not one for carrying around in a pocket. i also notes the prescription request leaflet which stated that NHS cost for the strips is under £10 per 50, obviously the reason this meter is on the list. My GP is in favour of testing and does give me strips, but only enough to cover 25% of the tests I do, so In theory this would be good news as they would be supplying me with pots of 50 instead of 25 so I would have to pay considerably less as well as buying fewer pots than I otherwise would.
As always I did a side by side test with my preferred Freestyle meter and as I half expected based on comments by other users of this meter, its totally erratic, in fact just as bad as the iBGStar. Side by side readings against the Freestyle were:
Freestyle. Nexus. Diff
5.4. 8.8. 3.4 or 62% higher
4.9. 6.2. 1.3.or 26% higher
5.6. 7.4. 1.8 or 32% higher
I know some GP's consider self testing to be a waste of time, but seems to me that foisting cheap and erratic meters on people is an easy way of ensuring that we give up on it altogether. I will stick to the Freestyle as it continues to be consistent and in line with my HBA1c results. I can only hope that Abbott eventually drop their strip prices to be in line with HCP short term purchasing policies which are obviously overriding both clinical policies and ignoring the long term care costs associated with poor blood glucose control.
So looks like I am now in the situation where I will have to self fund 100% of my test strips in future instead of the 75% that I was funding before. :-(
Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
My first though on opening the box was "my god, it's huge", not one for carrying around in a pocket. i also notes the prescription request leaflet which stated that NHS cost for the strips is under £10 per 50, obviously the reason this meter is on the list. My GP is in favour of testing and does give me strips, but only enough to cover 25% of the tests I do, so In theory this would be good news as they would be supplying me with pots of 50 instead of 25 so I would have to pay considerably less as well as buying fewer pots than I otherwise would.
As always I did a side by side test with my preferred Freestyle meter and as I half expected based on comments by other users of this meter, its totally erratic, in fact just as bad as the iBGStar. Side by side readings against the Freestyle were:
Freestyle. Nexus. Diff
5.4. 8.8. 3.4 or 62% higher
4.9. 6.2. 1.3.or 26% higher
5.6. 7.4. 1.8 or 32% higher
I know some GP's consider self testing to be a waste of time, but seems to me that foisting cheap and erratic meters on people is an easy way of ensuring that we give up on it altogether. I will stick to the Freestyle as it continues to be consistent and in line with my HBA1c results. I can only hope that Abbott eventually drop their strip prices to be in line with HCP short term purchasing policies which are obviously overriding both clinical policies and ignoring the long term care costs associated with poor blood glucose control.
So looks like I am now in the situation where I will have to self fund 100% of my test strips in future instead of the 75% that I was funding before. :-(
Sent from the Diabetes Forum App
