# Diabetes patients hit by glucose monitor shortage



## Andy HB (Jan 29, 2020)

The company behind a blood sugar monitor that has changed the lives of thousands of diabetics has been forced to apologise after supplies ran short.

Pharmacies have been turning patients away as deliveries of healthcare firm Abbott's Freestyle Libre Sensor are delayed by two or three weeks.

Abbott has said it is working hard to fulfil all the orders, but gave no further explanation.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-51262846


----------



## Robin (Jan 29, 2020)

Andy HB said:


> The company behind a blood sugar monitor that has changed the lives of thousands of diabetics has been forced to apologise after supplies ran short.
> 
> Pharmacies have been turning patients away as deliveries of healthcare firm Abbott's Freestyle Libre Sensor are delayed by two or three weeks.
> 
> ...


You saw it here first...
https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/board...-any-libre-shortages.84486/page-3#post-946593


----------



## Kaylz (Jan 29, 2020)

The title of this thread is a little misleading, it isn't anything to do with "monitors" but sensors, the title would suggest otherwise


----------



## Andy HB (Jan 29, 2020)

Robin said:


> You saw it here first...
> https://forum.diabetes.org.uk/board...-any-libre-shortages.84486/page-3#post-946593



Only posting what I saw in the news. I'm afraid that I didn't see that other thread, but atleast people can link to the discussion now. Interesting to note how 'on the ball' the BBC is these days, though. That thread was started three weeks ago or so! 



Kaylz said:


> The title of this thread is a little misleading, it isn't anything to do with "monitors" but sensors, the title would suggest otherwise



Blame the BBC. I just picked the title from them. But, I'd be interested to know the difference between a monitor and a sensor (just so that I know for future reference).


----------



## grovesy (Jan 29, 2020)

It has been talked about on here,other Diabetic sites,  Facebook, and Twitter for weeks.


----------



## Northerner (Jan 29, 2020)

Andy HB said:


> But, I'd be interested to know the difference between a monitor and a sensor (just so that I know for future reference)


The sensor is equivalent to test strips i.e. the 'disposables', whereas the scanner you use to take a reading from the sensor is equivalent to a meter


----------



## Andy HB (Jan 29, 2020)

Northerner said:


> The sensor is equivalent to test strips i.e. the 'disposables', whereas the scanner you use to take a reading from the sensor is equivalent to a meter



Thanks Alan. This thread was good for one purpose atleast. I learned something.


----------



## Bruce Stephens (Jan 29, 2020)

One surprise from the article is that there's a suggestion that around 30000 people in the UK use it (so around 10%). Not sure I believe that, but if so that means CCGs are well below the planned 20-25%.


----------



## Bruce Stephens (Jan 29, 2020)

Bruce Stephens said:


> Not sure I believe that



I don't believe it. https://openprescribing.net/all-england/#libre looks like it's prescribed to nearly 2 per 1000 patients in England, so for a population of 50 million (England's is a bit larger than that) that would be 100,000. So 30,000 is the right order of magnitude but seems to me to be likely a factor of 3 or so out. (Maybe more if a significant proportion are self-funding. Might well be that prescriptions now dominate, though.)


----------

