I had to take my cat to the vet yesterday at 11am. but I felt very thirsty
so checked my blood sugar level ( I am an insulin dependent diabetic).
It was 26.4 so very high yet I had my jab with breakfast, so I had to find out why. I remembered that my insulin pen had broken last evening, so got out the spare one. I used it when I had breakfast & thought " that pressed more easily" so I assumed that the new one was good and that having to press hard on the broken one must have been the problem. The high sugar level told me that was not the case, so my sister phoned the doctors, whilst we drove to the vets , so I could speak to them on loudspeaker to get another pen immediately. It was very urgent as I couldn’t eat again till I got one & the doctors aren’t open at weekends … so I may have ended up in hospital!
The prescription team said they would phone my pharmacy to see if they had any in stock, but I told her thet didn’t stock them so she said she would call my diabetic nurse & see if she had any and she would let me know.
We got back from the vets at midday but nobody called me & I would need to eat soon so I called my pharmacy who said they knew nothing about it, so after a long discussion one of the staff there said " Oh Yes, the doctors brought it in earlier"… there were only 4 staff at that pharmacy!
I immediately went to collect it, but was cross because nobody told me and it was pure chance that I had called the pharmacy.
Around 4.30pm a diabetic nurse from the hospital phoned , so I explained what had happened and she said she would send me another pen , as a spare, because this could have made me very ill if I couldn’t inject my insulin. She also said the pens were awful & they have lots of problems with them>
These pens are rubbish, so I have also told my GP that i want a 3rd pen to be sure. I have only had them for a year & one was faulty from new. My previous insulin & the pens that went with it were fantastic & the pens could last for 5 years with no problem.
It seems that diabetic consultants at my hospital are trying to cut NHS costs, as they changed the blood test machines for inferior ones, long before Covid, but I insisted that they must take responsibility if they wouldn’t supply my original ones… so they did!
I am ok now but the NHS are trying to cut costs so I just wanted to warn people to be aware if they suddenly start to change medicines for people with fairly common health problems.
I am ok now Meg, but it was really frightening as i had no means at all of injecting my insulin. Even one of the older GP receptionists phoned me from her home last night to check that I was alright.
It’s also a problem with some slow release generic medicines; inferior composition with excipients differing from the original ‘branded’ tablets etc producing several unwanted side effects.
I suffered unwanted side effects from SR generics and now I receive my meds in branded form and jogging along nicely.
I can’t blame anybody, apart from the sub standard insulin pens, but I think it may cost more as I will insist on always having spares now. Even the nurses criticize them, as they have to use them. They are not much cheaper than the better ones , so if these last 1 year instead of 5 years it will cost more in the end.
The same applies to your branded meds, as if they cause more side effects for patients it will cost the NHS more to deal with those side effects .
They need people with a brain to deal with NHS finance, not somebody with the ability to find cheaper medicines that dont work as well!
Sorry to hear that Twinks…It makes me see red when the quality goes down and can causes life threatening illness’s.
…When they changed my manufacturer to a cheaper make my blood levels went crazy…
The Doctor in the UK phoned me about my Blood results and said stop taking that immediately as I had gone from Hypo to Hyper…I do get alterations a fair amount within weeks so it is normal for me, but never had I gone to a Hyperthyroidism state.
Here the Doctor writes on the 3 or 6 monthly prescription that even the batch numbers have to be the same…
Why on earth do they think they can cut corners with peoples Health…They have nearly crucified the Mental Health Section…
I would think it goes on here also as the service although very good it has to be paid for one way or another…
Good for you Twink, sticking up against what is not acceptable, which ever way it is dressed up.
I always think that nobody wants to be responsible for anyone’s death but, if I hadn’t been as rigid about checking blood sugar levels, I could easily have assumed that the warmer climate was making me so thirsty, because I injected the insulin but the pen wasn’t putting it into my body. Two days of that & I would have been in hospital with Hyperthyroidism.
I have an appointment with my consultant next week & I shall tell him that , they either make an arrangement to supply me with the equipment I need or they must provide an insulin that gives satisfactory equipment to administer it safely.
I have been moved from this hospital on a previous occasion when I was having hypos often & the consultant made me wait to discuss till my next 3 monthly appointment… 10 days later a doctor had to come to my home to inject glucose to bring me round.
It is quite horrific when your let down by inferior medications. When you think how most NHS are so dedicated.
… Those that dish out the quotas for each Hospital are playing about with figures in truth they are playing about with real People’s lives
…that is what they seem to forget,I have been in intensive care and the treatment was 1st Class…complete dedication to the patients
Then when I was in Atkinson Morley Wimbledon again it was a specialised Hospital aimed mostly at spines and brain injuries. The Hospital was old and decrepit in 1987/8 so was eventually on the hit list…then transferred to St. Georges Hospital where I guess it could never have the standards of Atkinson Morley Hospital…Honestly the care was almost one nurse one patient and there was at least one Surgeon around every single day…Sundays maybe not…
:Atkinson Morley Hospital, now Wimbledon Hill Park | Historic Hospitals
Or https://pastview-assets.s3-eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/org/8/other/PDFs/Atkinson%20Morley.pdf
Interesting, The Pharmacies here have to ask you if you want the generic version but it is a cheaper prescription so some people take them. I have never had any problem with the generic versions but I am not a diabetic. As a pensioner I usually say no because it rarely makes any difference to the cost
