It’s been a very long while. And I’m sorry, I just couldn’t keep doing all the things. However, some of the things are coming back in 2023. Yay! The big news is that Thriveabetes is now officially registered as a company that will become a social enterprise in the next couple of years. This means that in addition to the conferences, we will develop programmes with a social impact that make a difference in the lives of people with diabetes.  

In the meantime, there have been a lot of new developments in the Irish diabetes world that are worth whizzing through, including:

Thriveabetes in-person conference May 2023

Venues are being viewed, and quotes have been gathered, so a date announcement will be issued early in the new year for Thriveabetes 2023. And then conference content development will begin. I am beyond excited at the prospect of us all being together again!!!

New Insulin Pumps entered the Irish market

In December 2021, Medtronic launched their hybrid closed-loop insulin pump, the 780G. In February 2022, a completely new hybrid closed loop insulin pump was launched in Ireland, the Tandem T:Slim pump with control IQ and, in June, YpsoPump announced their version of Loop with CamAPS; however, we’re still waiting on this one to be approved by the HSE. 

Find out more about these insulin pumps here - https://thriveabetes.ie/insulin-pumps-in-ireland

New Glucose Sensors Available; Dexcom G7 and Medtronic Guardian 4

I haven’t had a chance to update the “Glucose Sensors Available in Ireland” webpage with this new information yet, but I will fix this by the end of January 2023. 

Both of these Continuous Glucose Monitoring CGM devices have been available in Ireland since October 2022 and are available through the HSE Long Term Illness Scheme. You can find out more about Dexcom here and more about Medtronic here. I had an in-depth conference call with the Dexcom Ireland team on the differences between G6 and G7, which you can read about my personal blog at Blood Sugar Trampoline here.

More Type 1 Diabetes DAFNE Centres

There has been massive progress in the availability of Type 1 diabetes specialist education for adults this year. 

In 2019 just seven diabetes centres were providing DAFNE education for adults with type 1 diabetes. In 2022, we now have approximately 28 centres, not only in hospital-based diabetes clinics but also in community hubs. Find your nearest DAFNE centre here.

Smart Insulin Pens Available in Ireland

In September 2022, Novo Nordisk launched their Smart Insulin Pens, the NovoPen® 6 and the NovoPen Echo® Plus in Ireland. These new devices not only record the time of your last insulin dose but transmit the time you took your insulin and the amount you took to Smartphone Apps (current Apps linked to the NovoPens are Glooko, Librelink, and MySugr).  

*** Long-Term Illness LTI inclusion ***. Unfortunately, these devices are not available on the Long Term Illness LTI scheme yet but an application has been submitted by Novo Nordisk since the launch but this process takes a minimum of six months to complete. 

If you are in a position to purchase NovoNordisk's NovoPen® 6  or NovoPen Echo® Plus, you can do so through your chemist. Each NovoPen® 6 and NovoPen Echo® Plus is expected to last 4-5 years. comes with a 3-year full guarantee, and Novo Nordisk will replace any pens that are faulty within that period. 

Recommended retail price is €59.95 and may vary between pharmacies. I'm trying to clarify if Smart Pens are eligible for a 23% VAT refund (similar to the self-funded glucose sensors) which would help with the cost. 

See this link for more information about these Smart Pens and associated apps.

Wow! That was a lot of new information. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any queries. 

Happy Christmas from The Thriveabetes 2023 Team:

Gráinne, Christine, Ken, Laura, Paula and Philip

We can’t wait to see you all in May :-O