Experts say giving kids tablets over liquid medicine could cut costs for NHS
Research says it could save tens of thousands of pounds per patient each year.
Experts say switching children away from liquid medicine and onto pills could save the NHS money, to the tune of tens of thousands of pounds per patient each year.
According to researchers, patients as young as seven were successfully able to switch to pills, and often preferred them to the taste of liquid medicine.
Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) experts are now planning to assess whether patients as young as four can successfully switch to cheaper tablets.
Academics at the children’s hospital wanted to examine the switch among patients with a condition called congenital hyperinsulinism (CHI).
Children with the condition, which leads to high levels of insulin in the body, are given a treatment called diazoxide to keep their blood sugar (glucose) levels stable.
They must take treatment multiple times a day depending on their insulin and glucose levels.
Until now children were given the treatment as a liquid, with liquid diazoxide coming with a price tag of £15.50 per 50mg.
Tablet diazoxide costs just £1.15 per 50mg.
Experts have estimated that switching from liquid to tablets could save the NHS £40,000 per patient per year.
The condition affects one in every 30,000-40,000 children.
GOSH experts at the world-renowned hospital conducted research on 19 patients aged seven to 13 to see whether the switch was viable.
Patients were monitored to ensure their blood glucose levels remained stable and asked about how the change in medication format had impacted them.
Jess Manktelow, who has CHI and has been a GOSH patient since she was 15 months old, was one of the children who took part in the project.
Her school and family life was organised around taking liquid diazoxide multiple times a day, which needs to be stored at room temperature in a glass bottle and drawn up with a syringe.
“I would always get a lot of questions about the medication when I would go away camping or at airport for holidays,” she said.
“It would always be hard to explain why I need it so much, but it isn’t always an easy condition to explain.”
The 11-year-old, from Kent, was switched to diazoxide tablets in April 2025.
“It has made a big difference taking medicine that doesn’t taste horrible,” she added.
“There were times where I didn’t want to take it because of the taste.
“It makes things very easy for me now, I’m able to do it myself and it doesn’t take up as much time at school or when I’m doing things I like, like climbing, it doesn’t have as much impact and that makes me happy.”
Her mother Steph Manktelow added: “We were so excited when the team told us we could switch to the diazoxide tablets.
“We’d been hoping for some time, we knew it was a better solution and would allow Jess to have control over her condition and that is very important.”
Kate Morgan, GOSH clinical nurse specialist who co-led the project, said: “We knew the potential this trial had for savings, but the scale of the quality-of-life improvements for children and their families we are seeing is something we didn’t anticipate.
“Children are so much more than their diagnoses – they have full lives and families and their illnesses affects everyone, so it is very important we do all we can to make simple, positive changes that impact everyone for the better.”
Project co-lead Dr Antonia Dastamani, consultant of paediatric endocrinology and diabetes at GOSH, added: “It is common practice to ask patients how they’re finding treatment, or how they feel when they have injections, but we never thought to ask patients about the taste of medicines and whether they like them.
“This has shed a light on key questions we now want to ask children and young people about their care and treatment so they can be more involved and have more independence in their lives.”