Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his department is taking to improve access to finger-prick blood glucose testing for Type 1 Diabetes when symptoms first appear.

As I set out in the debate on Type 1 Diabetes: Infant Testing in response to petition 728677 on Monday 9 March 2026, the Government is committed to supporting people with type 1 diabetes. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence has recently updated the clinical guidelines on type 1 diabetes in children and young people, which is available at the following link:

http://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng18

This sets out that children and young people without a known diagnosis of diabetes can also present with diabetic ketoacidosis which requires urgent diagnosis and management. This includes the measurement of capillary blood glucose, which is usually undertaken through a finger-prick test.