Hampshire & Isle of Wight ICB Medicines Optimisation Team Update
Written by AlisonFreemantle on Tuesday 19th September 2023
The use of NHS England recommended Blood Glucose Testing strips, meters, and lancets
The ICB are going to be implementing NHS England’s Recommendations following the publication earlier this year of the national assessment of blood glucose and ketone meters, testing strips and lancets.
A summary of recommended devices and therefore lancets and test strips can be found on page 5 of the NHSE publication.
Why are the ICB doing this?
- To support the delivery of the NHS Long-Term Plan for diabetes management through the following key objectives:
- Equitable access to the same products for all eligible people, no matter where they live.
- Minimum quality standards established in a fair and transparent way to better address the needs of all people living with diabetes.
- Prescribing practices aligned across primary and secondary care.
- Making best use of NHS resources, whilst ensuring that the price paid is commensurate to the quality offered.
- To ensure as a minimum, all recommended devices are complaint with the ISO Standard ISO 15197:2015
Who will be affected?
- All appropriate patients currently prescribed non recommended blood glucose testing strips and lancets.
- Any new patients requiring blood glucose testing strips and lancets.
This excludes patients using Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) e.g., Freestyle Libre2 and Dexcom and any patients requiring meters with additional functionalities.
Action:
- Please review your stock levels of all lancets and test strips accordingly.