Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential merits of making (a) the Dexcom G6 Continuous Glucose Monitor and (b) other glucose sensors available to people with type-one diabetes.

Both intermittent and real-time Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) are available to people with type one diabetes under the NHS. CGMs can be provided under NHS prescription and sensors collected from local pharmacies.

The Dexcom One is one model of CGM that is available under the NHS. Currently the Dexcom G6 model is being considered for provision as part of the Hybrid Closed Loop (HCL) system. The HCL system includes a higher specification CGM with an algorithm that ‘speaks’ to the insulin pump to adjust the amount of insulin the pump is administering as necessary.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence have been assessing the cost effectiveness of HCL and are due to publish their recommendations soon.

Different HCL systems are available and some are built by combining interoperable devices from different companies. Because of the large number of combinations of components available to the NHS, this appraisal considers HCL systems as a class of technologies rather than individual components or systems. The Dexcom G6 is included in this assessment.

Hybrid closed loops systems are only recommended if the companies and NHS England agree a cost-effective price for the systems on behalf of the relevant health bodies.