HbA1c and your diabetes medicines review

Your target should be personal

NICE recommends agreeing an individual HbA1c target with adults who have type 2 diabetes. The discussion should consider treatment effects, low blood glucose and quality of life. A laboratory reference range or another person’s target is not necessarily the target your own team has agreed.

Write your agreed target beside your latest result if you know it. If you do not, ask the diabetes team to explain it and record the answer. Bring the test date and previous results if available, together with any prescription changes between tests.

Ask about the monitoring plan

For type 2 diabetes, NICE describes more frequent HbA1c measurement while treatment and results are becoming stable, then six-monthly measurement once stable. Your team should explain the schedule that applies to you and any reasons for a different approach.

Ask who requests the test, who reads it and how you will hear about the result. If a test has already been arranged through your practice, a private package may duplicate it. A medicines review is an opportunity to identify questions about the plan, not a reason to arrange extra testing on your own.

Bring your experience of treatment

A result does not describe everything about taking medicines. Note problems with the routine, unwanted effects, affordability of products you buy yourself and anything that makes it difficult to follow the agreed plan. Bring your full list, including products for other conditions.

If you have a glucose-monitoring record or a written plan from your diabetes team, keep it with the other information for the appointment. Describe episodes that concerned you and the advice you followed, rather than trying to decide which medicine caused them.

• What is my current HbA1c target, and why?
• What does the latest result mean alongside my previous results?
• Does my current treatment still fit my priorities and daily routine?
• Which other medicine-related monitoring is due?
• Who should I contact between appointments if I am worried?

Keep day-to-day safety advice close

Continue to follow your diabetes team’s personalised advice about illness and low or high blood glucose. A routine online review is not an emergency service. Seek urgent clinical help when needed rather than waiting for a report.

MedReview can provide a pharmacist-checked report based on the medicines and health information you supply. It does not replace your diabetes appointments, diagnose a problem or change your prescription. Ask your usual team about NHS review options and share any private report with them before making treatment decisions.