Introduction

Diabetes UK is concerned that people with diabetes are experiencing restrictions in their access to test strips and meters which are essential to self-management of their condition. We conducted a survey to further investigate the situation following an increase in calls to the Careline and Advocacy teams about this issue.

The survey found that 39 per cent of respondents had either been refused a prescription of blood glucose test strips or had their prescription restricted – many in the last year.  Of those who had experienced restrictions, 58 per cent were people with Type 1 diabetes and 40 per cent with Type 2 diabetes. The restrictions had a considerable impact on the ability of people with diabetes to manage their diabetes and people were concerned for their immediate safety and future health.

The report suggests that nearly a quarter of people who said they had their prescriptions restricted had been told by their GP that this was due to restrictive policies issued by local health managers. This is supported by further analysis by Diabetes UK that shows widespread variation on guidance on prescribing test strips.

Diabetes UK is calling for the removal of blanket policies on blood glucose monitoring and wants access to test strips made on a case-by-case basis and in a joint decision-making process between the person with diabetes and their clinician.

Rationing blood glucose test strips because of financial constraints is an unacceptable example of short-termism that could be putting people’s health at risk, and is also storing up long-term costs for the NHS because diabetes complications are extremely expensive to treat.

Download the full report, Access to test strips – A postcode lottery? (PDF, 716KB)