Forward a copy of the leaflet to all the strip manufacturers you can think
of.
Perhaps with the potential loss of all those sales, they will consider
dropping their strip prices. LOL; ROFL ;-P)

Hi Julie,

You could try the following - or upload a scan of the leaflet somewhere
and let us all have a crack at em ;)

--------------------------------------
Dear Health Authority,

I enclose a copy of your leaflet.  This leaflet appears to imply two things:

1)  Cure is better than prevention - an interesting reversal of an often
used maxim

2)  Patients who test their blood glucose levels either do nothing with
the results or will panic at the first high reading.

Regarding the second point I recommend that you read the National
Service Framework for Diabetes, the Patients' Charter, NICE guidelines
for diabetes treatment and all of the other official documents and data
sources which strongly support empowering the patient to have more
control over their own treatment.  All of these bodies stress the
importance of allowing those patients who are inclined to take control
of managing their chronic condition to do so and give them the tools
available.

Since beginning testing before and after meals and other trigger points
during the day including exercise periods I have a much better
understanding of how my blood glucose levels are affected by my dietary
intake and activity.  This has allowed me to make better choices in my
day to day life and daily management of my condition allowing me to
reduce my hba1c from 10.3 to "normal" levels (5.6) over a period of a
single year.

This achievement is due to having the testing tools at my disposal.  If
however you remove the testing tools which allow me to control my
condition, against the recommendations of the National Service Framework
and National Institute of Clinical Excellence then I am sure that any
cost savings on test strips will be more than exceeded by the cost of
dialysis, eye treatment and amputation related costs in years to come.

It gives me cause for great concern that you are ignoring the
recommendations listed above and putting my health at risk as a cost
saving exercise.

I await your response with interest, as I am sure will the Diabetes UK
Campaign Network, the local patient user forums, various internet user
groups and other assorted publishers.

Yours faithfully
A. Diabetic.
Diabetes Mellitus Type 2, diagnosed 17th Oct 2003

--------------------------------------

What do you reckon?

VBH.
T2/Dx 17Oct03/Met1500/A1c5.7

A worrying advancement in our medical care!
Ok so the NHS say they need to try and save money but at who's expense?
I for one and im sure im not alone here!!???  If it was not for being able
to freely??? test ourselves then im sure id be occupying a hospital bed ny
now! but as it is i was able to see how my body reacted to certain foods(
well we are all different!) and was able to reduce my HbA1c from 12.9 down
to 5.2 in a year and it;s staying there thanks to these strips!
Ok so they are expensive but what costs more? Of course id like to see the
price of these strips come down to a price we could reasonable afford but as
it is, we in the UK pay national, insurance for things like this hence the
word 'insurance' Personally id rather not want the need to use this
particularly service but me like thousands of other T2's need these strips
to ensure we stay as healthy as possible and to enjoy life as best we can
and not be a burden on our struggling NHS.
Well maybe ive said too much but then again that statement is in the health
of the beholder/reader LOL

The same bureaucratic approach is prevalent in Australia as well.   I recently
received a letter from the Diabetes Australia processing officer telling me that
the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme had defined the maximum usage in a 6 month
period of reagent strips to be 900 strips - i.e. 18 boxes of 50 strips.  

This maximum usage rule equates to 5 tests per day.   I test 7 times each day -
before a meal, 2 hours after the meal and at bed time. Thus my usage would
equate to 26 boxes of 50 strips or 33% over the maximum usage.

Attached was a form to be filled in by my doctor nominating the number of strips
that I should use over a 6 month period.  My doctor agreed with my testing
regime and he filled in the numbers accordingly so I should be safe for 2 years
or so.

The annoying thing about this is that they determine the usage by the number of
boxes purchased in any 6 month period which doesn't take into account bulk
buying.  I had purchased 2 lots of 8 and 2 lots of 10 boxes during the previous
6 months.  I usually buy another lot when I am down to 2 or 3 boxes.  At the
time I received the letter I was using 1 box and had 8 boxes in the cupboard
waiting to be used.

Aint administrivia wonderful!