In June 2024, the Scottish Government allocated up to £8.8 million of funding to increase access to diabetes technology in the 2024/25 financial year. This funding will allow all children living with diabetes to access hybrid closed loop systems and also increase provision for adults.
The majority of this investment will be used to centrally purchase diabetes technology, but it will also fund the national diabetes closed loop system onboarding team to support health boards with delivery. See this patient leaflet for more information on the national onboarding programme.
As far as we understand, this funding is recurring. However, all national funding requires ongoing review and at the moment is being agreed on an annual basis.
Diabetes Scotland posed some frequently asked questions about this funding to Scottish Government, who provided the answers below:
What’s the timeline? When will new hybrid closed loop kit start to be rolled out?
We have an existing infrastructure in place and central funding allows us to continue to expand the number of people who can access closed loop system technologies. The scale of this phase still requires several key logistics to be worked through with finance and procurement but we are working towards a July start. This requires a lot of parts to be confirmed between now and then.
Are you confident that we can say within a year, every child who wants hybrid closed loop will have access?
It is important to know we are operating within extremely tight margins and timelines. We are confident that the central funding will support localities to expand access to closed loop systems and the national onboarding team should allow boards to accelerate those timelines. We are confident this will be delivered within 18-24 months from now.
If that doesn't happen how do people raise this (and who with)?
We need to develop a structure whereby those delivering can be transparent with those waiting. Everyone should be aware this is an ambitious aim and the pathway is still relatively new. We will do our best to coordinate comms centrally to support people.
Can families self-refer onto the national onboarding pathway?
No – it is crucial that care is still managed in the appropriate way and families must be referred from their local diabetes teams. This is to ensure clinical safety is considered at all points.
Is this purely to start people who aren't on pumps at the moment? Would it pay for pump / CGM upgrades to close the loop?
The funding will support individuals to close the loop. As such funding would cover pump, CGM or indeed the whole closed loop system should that be required.
What's the guidance on increasing access for over 18-year-olds - who gets priority, is that centrally decided / at health board level?
Access criteria will remain as per the SHTG recommendation and re-iterated in the recent SIGN 170 guideline: Optimising glycaemic control in people with type 1 diabetes. We must be very clear that expanding adults’ access will take time – much of this delivery model is dependent on the cost of kit and also the budget Scottish Government finance is operating in next year. This investment will still support a significant amount of adults this year. The SHTG criteria is broad and inclusive.
What message do you have for those adults who desperately want a pump but are still being told they’ll have a long wait?
The additional central funding should help health boards to increase access to closed loop systems in a more timely manner. Increased capacity via the national onboarding team will also support local services to work through waiting lists and help support an innovative approach to individuals with T1D to access tech.
There is a good chance that we will be able to make significant savings on our existing footprint with a reduction to current base prices for pump and CGM devices and consumables. That being said, the health budget for next year currently still has a significant deficit so we have to be creative with diabetes services as a whole and seek to make savings where possible.
If you have any further questions that you want answered, please get in touch with us at scotland@diabetes.org.uk using the subject line: Tech Funding FAQs.
