Finding the chase and cutting to it

Being a type 1 diabetic puts me in a reasonably unique position as far as NHS prescriptions matter.

If my insulin was re-branded tomorrow, my prescription with the old name would still be valid as it is describing a medicine.  In fact, under UK and European law, we now order medicines via their generic names rather than their brand names for exactly that reason.

I use Lispro for example as my analogue insulin, sold by Lily as Humalog.  If Lily renamed this Insulog, my prescription for Lispro would still be valid.

This is genius.

So brand names are not important…

Ah, the other side of the coin, in terms of my life, are medical devices.  You know, the pump, syringes, pen nibs (seriously insulin pen needles are called nibs!), insulin pens, isopropyl alcohol (for sterilising things so I don’t get infections from sticking a needle in to me), lancets and testing strips are medical devices and in this case names matter, even when they shouldn’t.

Eh?

In 1980 my mum bought me a Autoclix (brand name) which is a type A lancing device taking, you guessed it, type A lancets.

This is the form factor of the lancets is actually the one that won the tech battle (much more fiercely fought than beta-max versus VHS, see the Autolet here).  All lancing devices use this type of lancet now.

But that wasn’t always the way and several devices used type B lancets.  The important thing therefore was to get the right type.

Or that was the case in 1980.

Times have moved on…

Apparently!  Now there are five manufactures and if your prescription doesn’t have the brand name of the lancet, not the manufacturers name or the lancet type, you don’t get the prescription filled (that’s supplied to you and me).

Which makes re-branding a nightmare.

My Abbott Laboratories Thin Lancets are now called Abbott Laboratories Freestyle Lancets (nothing else has changed, not one thing, not even the price or the colour they are supplied in, just the name on the box).  So my prescription asking for Abbott Laboratories Thin Lancets are not valid because this item does not exist.

In all other terms though, they are the same thing.

Abbott Laboratories is a North American company and have contacted all health care professionals in the countries they supply to the details of the re-marketing so that they can provide the prescriptions so that type 1 diabetics can make informed decisions about how much insulin they need.

This may work well in America, but I use a large Pharmaceutical change in the UK and my GPs practice were apparently unaware of this change or that in fact, it was important.

Abbott are sending me this months supply free of charge and without the need for a prescription.  Being a loyal customer since 1991 does have its advantages.