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Diabetes: Medical Equipment

Question for Department of Health and Social Care

UIN 183328, tabled on 2 May 2023

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what plans his Department has to increase equality of access to medical technologies for people with type one diabetes.

Answered on

15 May 2023

NHS England have achieved their Long-Term Plan objective of 20% of all Type 1 diabetes patients in receipt of Flash Glucose Monitoring by April 21. Performance was 50% at June 2021 with an even distribution of access across all deprivation quintiles.

The ratio of prescribing Flash glucose monitoring between the most and least affluent areas has been reviewed and has reduced in every English region. When the programme started Flash was twice more likely to be prescribed to patients living in the most affluent areas, but current ratios show virtual parity between the most and least deprived patient groups across England.