Provision of blood glucose test strips

The Department of Health has released guidance on the provision of test strips for people with Type 1 diabetes. This recognises that self-monitoring of blood glucose is essential for people with Type 1 diabetes in order to carry out their daily lives.

You can send this letter to your GP, hospital doctor, community pharmacist, Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) or Primary Care Trust (PCT) to ensure that they are aware of the guidance and keeping to it. You can download the letter here: https://www.wp.dh.gov.uk/publications/files/2013/02/Safe-care-of-people-with-type-1-diabetes.pdf

Diabetes UK and other stakeholders have reported increasing numbers of people with Type 1 diabetes being refused prescriptions for sufficient test strips to confidently self manage their diabetes.

You can also tell us about your experiences getting and using test strips through our online survey.