Accu-Check Aviva £3.99 Sainsburys

BertRoot

Usually if you are under the care of a hospital as opposed to a GP the reps for the main BGM companies leave stacks of free meters there as they want you to get teh meter free as they charge up to 35 quid for a vial of test strips. You will then get a regular script and they make a killing that way. If my batteries go on mine I troll off to the clinic and tell them and they usually offer me a load of different ones to choose from. I would never pay for a meter though.

I have heard that the NHS are trying to limit the prescription of test strips to Type 2s anyway and there is a petition on the government petitions site apparently.

goony

The reason why the NHS is trying to limit the use of test strips is two fold:
1. The total cost of test strips to the NHS is more than the cost of all drugs used to treat diabetes

2. There is no good evidence that regular home monitoring for patients with type 2 diabetes improves control

carlyh69

I work in an ASDA pharmacy and we are selling aviva and compacts for £3.98, yes test strips are expensive, approx £25 for a box of 50 similar for finger pricker refills, but seeing as there is 10 test strips and 10 finger prickers in a box, it would be cheap just to buy a new meter all the time!!!