Simon Stevens, the Chief Executive of NHS England has announced that from April 2019, all patients who qualify for access to the flash glucose monitoring device, FreeStyle Libre, will be able to receive it on prescription from their local GP or diabetes team. The intervention from NHS England comes following a recent British Medical Journal article, which reported data from Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) suggesting that only 2% of patients in England with type 1 diabetes were receiving the device on GP prescription, with the proportion varying between CCGs from 0% to 24.6%. In response to the announcement, the patient organisation Diabetes UK welcomed the measures taken by NHS England, as this would bring to an end the variation in availability.
Date of Announcement:
Image: Dr. Emma Wilmot
Consultant Diabetologist
