A 13-YEAR-OLD girl campaigning for access to life-changing diabetes technology is set to find out if she has been successful.

Rosey Edwardes, from Bridport, has had type 1 diabetes since she was 17 months old and has to check her blood glucose levels at least 10 times a day by finger prick.

Along with mum Kirsty and charity Diabetes UK, Rosey has been lobbying Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to make a blood glucose monitoring device available on the NHS in the county.

Under the current system, it is up to the individual clinical CCGs to decide whether flash glucose monitoring is available to patients in their area, which means the CCG can dictate the criteria for patients who are eligible for the device, and decide whether they offer it at all.

In Dorset, the CCG has just approved the device for children, as well as a handful of adults under very strict criteria.

And NHS England has announced wearable glucose monitors will soon be made available to thousands more diabetes sufferers – which could help to end the postcode lottery for patients in Dorset.

NHS England has said it will provide funding to make the Freestyle Libre monitors available to tens of thousands of people with Type 1 diabetes across the country.

The device, which is the size of a £2 coin and sits on the arm, will be available on prescription for all patients who meet the guidelines from April 2019.

It will hopefully end the current variation patients in some parts of the country are experiencing in accessing the monitor. In Dorset, the technology is only available to a small cohort of patients, and there have been strong calls for the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) to make it more widely available.

The life-changing monitor significantly reduces the need for painful finger prick blood tests by relaying glucose levels to a smart phone or e-reader.

Kirsty said: “It is brilliant news and we will find out next week if Rosey will receive the device on the NHS from next April. But there is still work to be done – everyone who needs it should be able to get it. There is still room for improvement. “

Matt Robert, of Diabetes UK, added: "It's brilliant because people will have the same access to technology in Dorset as people do in Somerset, whereas at the moment it's completely different just because of their postcode.

"In an ideal world everyone would have access to it, but the people who will be able to access it are those that need it most.

"Lots of families are going to be thrilled. It's those small lifestyle changes that make a big difference."