Joan McAlpine (South Scotland) (Scottish National Party): To ask the Scottish Executive how many people will benefit from the additional funding for insulin pumps in (a) Dumfries and Galloway and (b) East Lothian. (S4W-6632)

Michael Matheson: The precise number of people living in Dumfries and Galloway and East Lothian who will receive a pump as a consequence of the additional funding is not centrally held. However, NHS boards are expected to meet the ministerial commitment to provide 25% of young people with type 1 diabetes with an insulin pump by March 2013. The Scottish Government has therefore provided NHS boards with funding of £2.5 million to support the purchase of insulin pumps and associated consumables for people with type 1 diabetes in 2012- 13. This support is expected to make sure that children and young people with type 1 diabetes have access to life-changing insulin pumps therapy and ensure equitable provision across Scotland.

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/S4_ChamberDesk/WA20120504.pdf

8th April 2012

An extra £1.5 million will provide more youngsters with diabetes with "life-changing" insulin pumps.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the cash would help ensure a pledge to make the devices available to 480 children and teenagers with type 1 diabetes is met by the end of March next year.

The pumps are attached to the person's body and are programmed to administer the correct amount of insulin, removing the need for insulin injections.

Ms Sturgeon said they could help give youngsters with diabetes a "normal childhood".

The charity Diabetes UK Scotland said access to insulin pumps had been "shockingly low" for too long.

However it described the £1.5 million - which comes on top of £1 million announced earlier this year - as "great news".

Almost 12% of all those with diabetes in Scotland have the type 1 condition of the disease.

The number of people who suffer from this is on the rise, having increased from 26,294 in 2006 to 27,910 in 2010. This includes 2,872 under-18s who have type 1 diabetes.

Teenager Rebekah Sutherland, (pictured above) from the Grampian region, is one of those who has already been fitted with an insulin pump.

She said: "Before I was given my pump my daily routine was really rigid and my injections and meals had to be at set times. What a difference my pump has made. I can even enjoy a lie-in, which was unheard of when injections dictated my life."

CWD Glasgow Focus on Technology Conference 2013

Children with Diabetes are holding their first conferemce in Scotland in Glasgow 5th-7th April 2013, in the Marriottt Hotel, Argyle Street. They have held their UK conference in Windsor for the last 3 years and the 4th annual conference this November was sold out in a few hours.   If you are interested in attending the conference in Glasgow the first step is to contact Laura This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to be added to the Glasgow 2013 mailing list.  This is where Laura will provide us with updates as the conference develops and let us know when registration will open. 

This is the report from the first UK FFL in 2009, Marc is bottom right!   

Friends for Life UK 2009 

Please pass this on to groups, clinics and anyone who may be interested.   Hope to see many of you there!

Halloween 2010 at FFL

The group 2009

Insulin Pump Funding (Glasgow)

Humza Yousaf (Glasgow) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what impact the recently announced additional funding for insulin pumps will have on Glasgow. (S4O-00868)

The Minister for Public Health (Michael Matheson): In addition to our substantial funding commitment, national guidance was issued to every national health service board in February setting out our ambition to dramatically increase pump provision for children and adults across Scotland. By the end of March 2013, insulin pump therapy will be made available to 25 per cent of children and teens with type 1 diabetes within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde. In addition, we expect to see a dramatic increase in the number of pumps for adults with type 1 diabetes over the next three years.

Humza Yousaf: I welcome the announcement by the Scottish Government of that extra funding. I note in the plans that were outlined by the chief executive of the NHS and reiterated by the minister that the increase in pump provision is not timetabled to begin until 2013-14. However, many people in Glasgow have been waiting several years for the local health board to increase provision from its current dismal rates, and a further wait will add to the difficulty of their situation. Are there any interim plans to start increasing the provision now in order to build up to that 2015 target?

Michael Matheson: We expect all boards, including NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, to take immediate action to start to increase the number of insulin pumps that are available to all age groups, including adults, but children and young people in particular. We have asked each health board, including NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde, to provide us with a detailed action plan for how it intends to achieve that increase. We expect those plans to be submitted by all health boards shortly. We will continue to scrutinise those plans once they have been submitted to monitor the progress that has been made by individual boards towards achieving the increase that we want in the provision of insulin pumps. 

The member can be reassured that, given the clear commitment that the cabinet secretary has given on this matter, we will scrutinise closely the progress that boards are making on this matter. We expect immediate improvements to start to be made by boards in the coming year to ensure that what we see as the right level of availability of insulin pumps to young people in Scotland is achieved.

http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/28862.aspx?r=6941&i=63221&c=1300943

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