Rotorua's Jayne Windell says it's time New Zealand stopped treating wearable continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) as a "luxury" item.
Diabetic Jayne Windell believes a $66 million one-off boost to Pharmac funding amounts to “hollow words” and offers no more certainty for public funding of a device that would change her life.
Windell, who has type 1 diabetes, and her husband Charlie have been campaigning for the fundingof continuous glucose monitors.
The wearable monitors would allow people with diabetes to monitor their blood sugar levels through an app without having to draw blood and to get alerts if they reach dangerous levels.
Two brands of the devices are among 109 items on Pharmac’s options for investment list – medicines and products it would like to fund if its budget allowed. The priority ranking of the list is confidential for commercial reasons.
Pharmac told the Rotorua Daily Post it hoped to share more about the procurement process for the devices “soon”.
It was also assessing the impact of the Budget decision to remove the $5 prescription co-payment, with more people expected to seek already funded dispensed treatments.
A $66m one-off uplift to Pharmac funding was announced in February and came into effect with the Budget last week, when the prescription policy change was revealed.
But Windell, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as an adult, said the confirmation of funding for Pharmac did not change anything.
“They are hollow words,” she said. “There’s no substance at all behind this.
“I feel we are no further forward today than we were two or three years ago.
“Type 1 is a progressive disease. It does not get better. The longer you have it the more uncontrollable it will become.”
Windell said funding the monitors would help type 1 diabetics learn to control their blood sugar levels earlier.
“Ultimately, there would be less hospital visits and less budget spend.”
Jayne Windell and her husband Charlie have been campaigning for the funding of continuous glucose monitors, or CGMs. Photo / Andrew Warner
Charlie Windell said the continuous glucose monitors (CMGs) would also help people with type 1 diabetes who needed to apply for funded insulin pumps and consumables.
“If you had the CGM you could have your blood sugar trends already established. These could help you show how much you need the pump,” Charlie said.
He believed Pharmac had the necessary money needed to fund CGMs but he did not believe these were “high on their priority list”.
In his opinion, “Pharmac still considers CGMs a convenience versus a life-changing device. Frankly, I think that’s insulting.”
Pharmac director of operations Lisa Williams said funding for CGMs was “getting closer”.
“We expect to release more information about this procurement process soon.”
Williams said Pharmac empathised with all New Zealanders living with type 1 diabetes and the whānau who supported them.
Pharmac director of operations Lisa Williams. Photo / Dean Purcell
“We have heard from people living with diabetes and the healthcare sector that CGMs are an important tool for monitoring blood glucose levels, and we agree. Hearing how medicines impact the lives of New Zealanders is really important in helping us understand what we should be funding.”
Williams said the impact of Budget decisions over the past few years resulted in an uplift of $125m to the 2023-24 Combined Pharmaceutical Budget.
“[This means] the total budget Pharmac manages for spending on medicines, vaccines, medical devices and related products is $1.311 billion.”
Pharmac was pleased to see steps taken towards health equity by removing prescription co-payments.
“We anticipate that, because of this change, more people will be dispensed funded treatments,” she said.
“However, we are unsure at this stage the full extent of how this change will impact Pharmac’s work and our budget.
“We will continue to talk with the Government and continue our work to get the best health outcomes for New Zealanders with our fixed budget, spending every last cent we have available to us.”
She said all the applications on Pharmac’s options for investment list continued to be treatments that it would like to fund.
“The ability to progress these applications depends on whether we are able to negotiate with suppliers and the relative priority of one or some, compared to others.”
In the financial year to date, Pharmac had made 40 new investments, including 18 new treatments, she said.
