Happy St Valentine's Day!
Today probably means very little to some of you. If you're single and looking for love or heartbroken or lonely then today might be pretty painful for you. I'm sorry if you fall into those categories. Rest assured, life rarely stays the same if you seek out ways to change it. If you do fall into the painful categories then I have great news! This blog isn't about St Valentine's Day! Woop!
The title of the blog is wrong. It should really read "K.I.S.S"
Keep It Simple Stupid
And that's what I want to touch on, today. Keeping things simple. Sorry about the photo, by the way.
I've had two experiences with the NHS in the past week. Let's look at the good experience, the simple one, first:
- I noticed that Freestyle Libre 2 was now available to NHS patients. I've been a Libre 1 user since 2017, self funded for a while and NHS funded latterly. My initial thoughts on Libre were mixed. I vlogged about it! You can watch one of those videos here : Freestyle Libre Inaccuracy - A Diabetic's Rant More recently, I've been a happier bunny. Accuracy has improved, I've found inserting the sensor into a thigh to be far better in terms of sleep and general comfort, no fails and nothing has fallen off. Cool, so Libre 2 seems like a natural progression. Here is what I went through to get it on my prescription:
Friday, 1.30pm - I emailed my practice nurse and politely asked if my Libre prescription could be changed to the new version.
Friday, 4.00pm - The nurse replied to tell me that has now been done.
That's it.
I felt like rushing to my doorstep and applauding.
No red tape, no need to sign anything, provide BG data, travel to the clinic, complain on Twitter, nada, nothing. Super duper!
And the not-so-simple experience?
- My lovely pharmacist called. He was processing my repeat prescription and, after scanning the 'script "barcode" his computer said 'No!'
In England, people with Type 1 Diabetes are medically exempt from paying for prescriptions. We fill out a form, the doctor signs it off and we get our medical exemption letter, card, number, whatever it is. That is then given to our chosen pharmacy and we're good to go! free meds!
Only the exemption award trophy expires after 5 years. Somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind I remember renewing this before. And here we are again.
In a pandemic.
Stay home, shave wives, protect the DFS sale... or something.
It's also winter. And despite climate change, it's really cold in England, right now. Snow and ice on the pavements. Did I mention that I have a visual impairment?
Those things aside; even if life was totally normal and it was a beautiful day for a 4 mile stroll, what an utter ache in the plums! A 4 mile stroll encompasses the journey to the GP surgery and home. Assuming I fill out the form at home and not in the surgery (stay home) then it's another 4 miles. Then it'll be time to show my exemption to my pharmacist.
It's totally pointless to renew a medical exemption for a life long condition. It causes additional stress and burden. In my case, it's pretty dangerous.
I know this is probably on the agenda of things to change. I'm happy to hear that, but I wonder just how complex is it? In the scheme of things, it's not a massive issue but it is an issue and one that every person with T1D will face every 5 years. It needs to stop. This renewal system needs to be dragged into 2021. There is no cure for what I have.
C'mon NHSE and prescription processors, let's sort this one out. It's really simple and once it's done you'll look much less stupid.
(Thank you to Julie Tickle for sending the renewal form to me in the post, saving me from one perilous journey.)
