Happy Birthday Libre!

So, it was exactly three years ago today that it was possible to order the Libre sensors and reader. Having signed up for all the notifications about the system and joined the Facebook Abbott Freestyle Libre Users Group, I was able to know to order on Day 1, with my order being No. 594. The orders are into the millions now. I originally tracked order numbers by date as it seemed to correlate with the increases in ordering - like in 2016 when the waiting list requirement was abolished. It doesn't work as well now but the big increase in 2017 seems to match what users are saying.

Looking back, the system does seem to have a made a difference to many people's lives. The group has stories of how much easier it has made control of diabetes (T1, T2 and other related conditions) especially for parents of T1s. Luckily I'm not in that situation, but can imagine the massive increase in peace of mind.

Anyway, it's a good day to celebrate this great innovation for improving life with diabetes. Now to hope that one day those that really need it can get it on prescription (another blog post to follow on that subject!)

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The CCG Project!

In order to find out the situation around the country for Libre prescribing now that the national policy has been published, I have made the decision to contact many of them to find out their plans. I have arbitrarily chosen to contact all English CCGs that in December 2018 prescribed Libre via Primary Care to less than 5% of their population (and one specific request from a group member). I had hoped this would be a small list, but there are 135 CCGs on the list. I may have bitten off more than I can chew, but I'm committed to doing this and feeding back. It worked before and hopefully this level of scrutiny will bring similar results. Below is a screenshot of the base document I am sending to each of the CCGs - it has some fields that are merge fields, so don't worry about the brackets and codes in the document (I found a typo, which has now been corrected too) . The major piece of work with respect to this is finding the right person to contact. However, I have s

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This month's update will be dealt with in two parts, both focusing on data; the first part summarising some data about the prescribing policies across England, the second my usual update on prescriptions fulfilled across the UK. Libre Prescribing Policies and Implementation in England There didn't seem to be an easy way to compile this. I used the Diabetes UK Map to link to the policies and then I cross-checked this with a Google search to see whether there was any more information. I had to do this line by line for each of the 195 CCGs in England - quite a lengthy and tedious process. However, I am pleased with the information arising from the data. Firstly, the headline figures - how many CCGs were funding Libre, how many had denied funding and who were still undecided? There are differences of opinion about these figures as some CCGs have not been clear (Staffordshire CCGs), and some have agreed to fund, but are yet to actually fund due to implementation difficulti

Finally an Update!

So, I have finally got the motivation to update my blog. There's probably nobody reading it anymore, but just in case...here goes. What has been happening? Well, I am still honeymooning in terms of my diabetes, so need less insulin than previously. It is proving a bit difficult to judge and I had a bad hypo last week. Basically, I was almost unconscious and Claire had gone out for the evening! Luckily I found some wine gums and came out of it eventually. Last weekend was Josh's thanksgiving. Our church doesn't really approve of christenings of babies whose parents are not both confirmed. As neither of us are, then a thanksgiving was the choice. It turned out to be a lovely service and the small group of people that we had meant that it was a great day. The sun even shone for most of it. This weekend is the Open Day at work. I have helped organise it, including getting a person to create a special newspaper for the day and be there to add pictures and make a live n

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