Get an ‘artificial pancreas’ on the NHS: 150,000 type 1 diabetes sufferers are set to get gadget hailed as the ‘biggest breakthrough since discovery of insulin’
More than 150,000 adults and children with type 1 diabetes are now eligible for an ‘artificial pancreas’.
NHS regulators today approved the hybrid closed-loop system technology, which experts say is the ‘biggest breakthrough since insulin’.
The high-tech device continuously monitors blood sugar levels via a sensor stuck to the body.
The measurements are fed directly back to a body-worn insulin pump, after which an algorithm calculates how much of the hormone to release.
An artificial pancreas to treat type 1 diabetes could soon be offered to NHS patients after a major trial produced ‘blisteringly brilliant’ early results. The high-tech kit continuously monitors glucose levels via sensors under a patient’s skin and, when necessary, automatically delivers insulin to the bloodstream – a task normally performed in the body by the pancreas.
The heads of the National Institute of Health and Care Excellence (NICE) are recommending that people in England and Wales could be offered a hybrid closed-loop system if their type 1 diabetes is not adequately controlled.
It is estimated that almost 300,000 people in England and Wales suffer from the autoimmune disease. This includes thousands of children.
It occurs when the body stops producing enough insulin to regulate blood sugar levels.
Patients usually need to measure blood sugar levels regularly using fingerstick blood tests.
Some already use a continuous glucose monitor, which allows them to manage their own blood levels with multiple daily insulin injections.
This can be especially challenging for children, given the variations in insulin levels required and the unpredictability with which children eat and exercise.
They are at greater risk for dangerously low blood sugar levels (hypoglycemia) and high blood sugar levels (hyperglycemia), which can cause damage and even be fatal.
Hybrid closed loop system technology costs less than £5,000 per patient.
All children and young people, women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant, and patients who already have an insulin pump, will be the first to be offered the gadget as part of a five-year rollout plan.
Professor Jonathan Benger, Chief Medical Officer at Nice, said: ‘With around 10 per cent of the entire NHS budget being spent on diabetes, it is important for NICE to focus on what matters most, by ensuring that the technologies with the best price-quality ratio available for diabetes patients. healthcare professionals and patients.
‘The use of hybrid closed loop systems will be a game changer for people with type 1 diabetes.
‘By ensuring their blood glucose levels are within the recommended range, people are less likely to experience complications such as disabling hypoglycaemia, strokes and heart attacks, which lead to expensive NHS care.
‘This technology will improve the health and wellbeing of patients and save the NHS money in the long term.’
Colette Marshall, CEO of Diabetes UK, said the new technology ‘has the potential to transform the lives of many people with type 1 diabetes, improving both health and quality of life’.
She said: ‘We are pleased to welcome these recommendations which widen access to the technology for key groups, including children and young people, and acknowledge our comments to the consultation earlier this year.
‘However, funding to roll out this technology to the people who need it is of paramount importance and we reiterate the campaign call we made last month for the Government and the NHS to agree on this.
‘We will also work with the NHS to ensure that everyone who could benefit from this technology can access it as quickly as possible in the phased rollout agreed to achieve this.’
Dr. Partha Kar, National Specialist Advisor for Diabetes said: ‘This is great news for people with type 1 diabetes and this announcement is made possible thanks to the hard work of the NHS, who are once again trialling and testing the best and latest innovations for diabetes. the benefit of our patients.
‘This technology may sound science fiction, but it will have a dramatic impact on people’s quality of life, not to mention the results. It is as close to the holy grail of a fully automated system as science can provide at this point, where people with type 1 diabetes can get on with their lives without having to worry about glucose levels or medications.”
The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) called it “the biggest breakthrough in the treatment of type 1 diabetes since the discovery of insulin.”