Decision report 201102661

Summary
Mr C complained that his GP practice decided to restrict the number of diabetic testing strips he could have, and then stopped providing them. He said that this was unfair and did not take into consideration his personal circumstances. Mr C said that self monitoring of his diabetes cannot be done efficiently without the strips, and that testing more frequently helped him manage his severe anxiety about his condition. Mr C also complained that the practice had inaccurately implied that he was selling his testing strips online.

In response to the complaint, the practice said that Mr C was using excessive amounts of testing strips and that this view was shared by the diabetic team. Mr C had been referred to a psychologist in order to address his anxiety. The practice had restricted the number of testing strips, but had not stopped prescribing them. They had, however, refused to provide them to Mr C on demand. They also explained that they had discussed with Mr C information that they had received from the local pharmacy. This was that a member of the public had contacted the pharmacy to say that they had purchased testing strips from a website, and that the packaging it was in contained details of the pharmacy and Mr C.

We concluded that the practice had acted reasonably in reducing the amount of strips they provided to Mr C as the decision was taken after the practice had received input from the diabetic clinic and after referring Mr C to a psychologist in an attempt to address his anxiety. We also considered that the practice acted reasonably in discussing with Mr C the information they received from the pharmacy, particularly when the number of testing strips he used was highly excessive.