Scotland’s artificial pancreas funding change: what it means if you’re waiting
The Scottish Government confirmed central funding for hybrid closed loop systems ends from 2026/27, shifting the cost to individual health boards.
If you are in Scotland and hoping to start on an artificial pancreas, read this calmly. The Scottish Government has confirmed that the central pot of money that pays for these systems will end from 2026/27, and the cost moves to each local health board instead. If you already use one, your funding stays and nothing about your care changes. The worry is about the future: whether you can start one may come to depend on where you live. Diabetes Scotland and others are pushing to have national funding put back.
- An artificial pancreas (also called a hybrid closed loop) is an insulin pump and glucose sensor that talk to each other and adjust background insulin automatically.
- From 2026/27, central Scottish funding for these systems ends, and the cost shifts to individual health boards (the regional NHS bodies that run care in each area).
- If you already use one, you are not affected: your existing funding continues.
- The concern is a postcode lottery, where whether you can start one depends on your local board’s budget.
- Diabetes Scotland and others are calling on the government to reverse the decision.
What has actually changed, and what has not
The change is about funding, not about the technology being taken away. Until now, a central Scottish Government fund has paid for hybrid closed loop systems. From 2026/27 that central funding ends, and paying for these systems becomes the responsibility of each individual health board out of its own budget.
The important thing to hold onto: if you already use an artificial pancreas, this does not switch you off. Your funding continues and your care carries on as normal. Nobody is being taken off a system they already rely on. What is genuinely uncertain is future access for people who are not on one yet, because that will now depend on decisions and budgets in each area rather than one national pot.
What it means if you are hoping to start one
If you have been hoping to move onto a closed loop system, the honest picture is that access may start to vary from one health board to another. That is where the phrase postcode lottery comes from, and it is why Diabetes Scotland and others are asking the Scottish Government to think again and reinstate national funding.
The most useful thing you can do is find out where you actually stand locally. Ask your diabetes team whether your health board has committed to funding these systems, where you are on any local list, and what the likely timeline looks like. Being on the waiting list, and staying in contact with your team, keeps you in the queue whatever happens with the funding campaign. This is a funding question, not a judgement about whether the technology is right for you.