NHS to give artificial pancreas to 1,000 diabetics to test if it prevents life-threatening attacks

A thousand diabetes patients will be given an artificial pancreas as part of a pilot scheme, the head of the NHS said yesterday.

Patients with type 1 diabetes will be able to use the devices, which continuously measure a person’s glucose levels and deliver insulin directly to the bloodstream – automatically balancing blood sugar levels.

Chief executive Sir Simon Stevens told the NHS Confederation’s conference up to 1,000 patients will benefit from a test of the innovative technology.

The devices could help eliminate finger prick diabetes tests and help prevent life-threatening hypoglycaemic attacks.

Sir Simon said the technology was just ‘one example of a whole fizz of innovation which continues across the Health Service’. 

He added: ‘Living with diabetes is a daily challenge for millions of people across England and this technology has the potential to make a remarkable difference to their lives. This innovation is a prime example of the NHS’s continued progress in modern medicine and technology.’

Professor Partha Kar, NHS national speciality adviser for diabetes, added: ‘One hundred years after the discovery of insulin, the ‘artificial pancreas’ is a potentially revolutionary development in the treatment of diabetes.

‘The NHS has long been at the forefront of clinical advances in care for major diseases, including diabetes, which have allowed patients to live longer and healthier lives.’

Sir Simon also hailed other medical advances in the health service, from new cancer treatments to drugs for spinal muscular atrophy and cystic fibrosis.

Meanwhile, other innovations mean there is a “realistic prospect” that HIV would be eliminated in this country by 2030, he said.

And ‘ground-breaking’ deals with drug companies could mean that the nation is ‘well on track to eliminating hepatitis C, ahead of the 2030 goal set by the World Health Organisation’.

Sir Simon also praised the clinical trails which have taken place in the NHS during the pandemic.

‘The latest estimate is that as a result of those, over a million lives have been saved worldwide thanks to research done in the NHS, over the course of months not years,’ he added.