An Omnipod is a tubeless insulin pump that delivers insulin through a tiny flexible plastic needle under the skin and is programmed to deliver insulin at different doses throughout 24 hours, with larger doses given by the wearer manually for meals. It’s an alternative way to deliver insulin to injections. This article from Medical News Today gives an excellent and detailed explanation of how it works.
Omnipod is made by the US-based company, Insulet. Omnipod insulin pumps have been available in the UK since 2010 (Source: Zisser, 2010). The newer Omnipod version, the Omnipod 5, is a fully integrated closed-loop automated insulin delivery (AID) system, like the current insulin pumps available in Ireland.
Insulin Pumps in Ireland
In Ireland, insulin pumps are provided for free to people with diabetes who meet the criteria, and companies can submit an application to the HSE’s procurement department at any time to be included on the list of pumps available through the health service. However, the National Expert Group only hold meetings twice yearly, as per the HSE Primary Care Eligibility & Reimbursement Service Guidelines for Suppliers (Section 1.2).
In the late 2010s, The Irish health service, the HSE, invited companies to submit tenders for insulin pumps, and since then, I have been receiving emails from people with diabetes in Ireland asking about the availability of the tubeless insulin pump here. Also, in 2018, there were just two insulin pumps available here; at least in 2023, there are now three. However, the Omnipod isn’t one of them. If you are interested in what pumps are available, Thriveabetes provides a list of them.
What does a Tubeless Pump offer
The benefit of the Omnipod pumps is that it doesn’t have any tubing; everything is contained in a small pod worn on the body and operated using a handheld device or an app on a smartphone. One of the biggest benefits of the Omnipod pump is that it’s really good for small children who might be prone to getting tubing from other pumps caught on objects and pulling out the cannulas. Omnipod is also now part of the hybrid closed loop systems. All insulin pumps are different sizes, work slightly differently, have different user interfaces; so it’s important that there are several choices available to people with diabetes because it’s a device that is worn at all times and needs to work well for the user.
The Mystery around why Omnipod is not available
When companies began to announce their new pump availability in Ireland, I began to suspect that Omnipod was either not approved or Insulet had not applied for the tender, and I decided to find out which it was. Many people in the community suspected that the HSE refused to fund it.
To find out what happened, I asked the Midwest Diabetes Advocacy Group to contact one of our local TDs to submit a Parliamentary Question on why Omnipod is not available. The replies had gotten lost in the forwarding email hole, but we did eventually receive this reply in December 2022 stating that Insulet had been invited by the HSE but had not submitted a tender application.
Image 2, Parliamentary Question 52097/22 on the status of the Omnipod tubeless insulin pump
"Finger face having an idea" by Tsahi Levent-Levi is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Where do we go from here?
I feel the addition of this pump, or a similar tubeless pump, is important for people with diabetes in Ireland because no insulin pump works for everyone! There have to be choices to ensure everyone with diabetes can find the right pump for their specific and current circumstances.
So how do we fix this? I’m open to suggestions because the only idea I can come up with right now is for people interested in Omnipod to contact Insulet to find out more about the pump. I’ve been told that the more queries a company receives, the more interested it becomes in entering that market.
It might also be helpful for some diabetes health professionals to reach out to Insulet to learn more about what this product would offer their patients. In addition, maybe our national advocacy organisation, Diabetes Ireland, might pursue this by “schmoozing” Insulet to expand their U.K. operations into Ireland like YpsoMed, and Air Liquide did for their pumps.
I would love to hear other thoughts on this; feel free to comment below, and thank you for reading. In the meantime, I've included some additional resources below if you would like to know more about this device.
Some additional sources if you want to find out more about the Omnipod Pump:
The Scoop on My Omnipod Loop Blog post from Dr. Steve Edelman, Take Care of Your Diabetes TCOYD.
Omnipod DASH Insulin Pump Review Video by Diabetic Danica.
Photo credit Omnipod https://www.omnipod.com/en-gb