Diabetes - glucose testing meter - do you have to buy the device & strips yourself?

[CristinaTheAstonishing]

Or was it given from the hospital/GP?

I remember with gestational diabetes I used to get the testing strips from the GP (from the nurses or on prescription, can't remember) but today was told v confidently by another doctor (not from the GP surgery) that the patient buys the glucometer and strips himself. Has there been a change?

My dh gets the strips on prescription, although the doctor only really prescribes the bare minimum! IIRC he bought the meter.

Thanks, Gingernut. I thought they might be on prescription.

If there is a specialist diabetes nurse attached to your GP practice they may have meters which company reps have provided them with to give to their patients for free. Companies do this so as their strips will be prescribed repeatedly and so they will profit that way. Your doctor is right though in that they are not available for free on NHS prescription.

Thanks for the clarification. So the glucometeres aren't, just the strips are on prescription?

Yes that's right. You will actually find that the meters aren't that expensive to buy any more as the companies are putting them fairly cheaply into pharmacies so as they will sell more and therefore more of their strips will be required.

Thanks for that. I might need to buy a new one as I threw the other one away after having DD, but in case I develop gestational diabetes again. I'd bought the old one myself and afterwards the GP said they only precribe strips for a few makes. Luckily, mine was one of those. I think it was around £30 then but I haven't kept an eye on prices since.

You will probably have to buy a meter, but you can get them pretty cheaply (around £15 or even less depending on what features you want).

If you are on meds (tablets or insulin) you'll be able to get your strips for free, but if you are only on diet you wont!

I use a brands that keeps on sending me free meters (they can switch between the measurement used here in the UK and that used in the US) so I have a couple of extras.

As a pp said the manufacurers make their money from the strips, not the machine itself.

My dh gets his strips free.He brought the metre from boots.Don't forget you don't have to pay the vat on the metre if you have diabetes.

Ah, good reminder about the VAT. Good to hear that the prices have gone down meanwhile as well. And for more clarification about the meter vs strips on the NHS.

I had gestational diabetes in the last pg and I want to start testing asap again during this pg, esp as I had a stillborn baby before the GDM pregnancy. He didn't die because of GDM (I didn't have it then) but if there's anything at all I can do to prevent it...

Thanks again, it really helps. I've been on a course this week for foreign doctors and it was there that we were told we'd need to tell the patient to buy a glucometer. I remembered the strips being on prescription so I got confused by the advice.