Martin Kenny
Question:12. Deputy Martin Kenny asked the Minister for Health the status of the diabetes service in Sligo University Hospital; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41165/19]
View answerThursday, 10 October 2019
Questions (12)
Oral answers (6 contributions)
We are back here again. This is the umpteenth time I have asked this question around Sligo diabetic services, particularly with regard to people with type 1 diabetes and access to the insulin pump. I gave the Minister a letter earlier which stated that, back in June, 30 adults were waiting to get access to this service, but they cannot get access to it because there is no specialist diabetic nurse in place to train them or to provide them with the service. It is over a year since I began raising this and I have raised it with the Minister umpteen times. I had a Topical Issue on the matter and the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, came in and read out a pile of waffle to me one night. I got angry with her and I said that the people who were blocking the service should be sacked. I do not think anyone has been sacked since and I do not think the service has been put in place since.
I have always had a good relationship with the Minister and always found him to be an honourable person. However, in this case, he is letting people down hugely. It is outrageous that there are up to 40 people who cannot get access to this service in the north-west.
I thank Deputy Kenny and, in fairness, I acknowledge and understand his frustration in this regard because it is an issue he has pursued on multiple occasions in this House. I accept his sincerity and bona fides in this regard.
The diabetes service at Sligo University Hospital, as the Deputy knows better than I, is a well-established integrated service, operating on a multidisciplinary team basis in the hospital and the community. This shared care approach is supported by a team of specialist diabetic nurses and an advanced nurse practitioner in both the hospital and the community, as well as a full range of support staff. In addition, there is a pregnancy diabetes service, inpatient ward-based consultation service and inpatient and outpatient podiatry service. The adult diabetes service at Sligo University Hospital is currently led by two consultant endocrinologists and includes an insulin pump service. There is also a paediatric diabetes specialist service which provides a regional insulin pump service for children across the north-west region. Both the adult and paediatric pump services have experienced considerable growth in referrals - which is a real challenge in regard to diabetes - both from new patients commencing treatment, as well as repatriation of patients from national tertiary centres.
We are committed to the further development of services for people with diabetes. A project funded under the Sláintecare integration fund only in recent weeks will give diabetes patients across Sligo, Leitrim and west Cavan expanded access to diabetes services through their GP and primary care settings, and I will send the Deputy information in that regard. We also see that the development of the diabetes day unit is now proceeding to build stage, with contractors appointed and building due to start next week. The project is expected to take 12 months and will meet the needs of the paediatric and adult diabetes services for patients from Sligo University Hospital.
I accept the Deputy's point on the need to do more in this regard. He has given me a letter this morning from the chairperson of the Sligo branch of Diabetes Ireland. In recognition of the fact that the Deputy has raised this on multiple occasions, and in an effort to resolve the matter, I suggest that I would happily host a meeting here with representatives of the Sligo branch of Diabetes Ireland, Deputy Kenny and his Oireachtas colleagues, a manager from the hospital and the HSE. I will arrange that within the next month.
I appreciate that offer of a meeting and, undoubtedly, that will be taken up. I also gave the Minister a letter from Grainne McCann, the manager of Sligo University Hospital, in response to a young woman of 18 years who has been recommended to use the insulin pump. Her letter stated:
Unfortunately, we do not have the resources to facilitate commencement of the pump therapy at this time. In order to do so, the person involved will need to attend a specific programme and have follow-up support by a nurse specialist dietician in order to safely manage the patients on insulin pumps. We have a number of patients awaiting this programme and we are trying to identify funding streams for this service requirement.
The issue is that the specialist diabetic nurse is not in place. The diabetic nurse is there and still works in the hospital but was seconded away from service to another part of the hospital and was not replaced. This has gone on for almost two years now. I understand that, when talking about the national children's hospital, it is a situation that involves huge money. However, this situation in Sligo is not a big one to resolve, which is why I and these patients are so frustrated. It takes so little to solve it, yet it seems to be impossible.
Every time a Deputy raises the issue of the national children's hospital and suggests in some way, shape or form that it is a hospital for Dublin-----
I did not suggest that.
-----I am going to make the point, and it is not particular to Deputy Kenny, that children from Sligo will benefit from this massive investment we are making in children's healthcare, which was promised years ago and debated but about which nothing was done. We are now getting on with delivering it.
In regard to the adult insulin pump services, in fairness to Deputy Kenny, he and Grainne McCann, the manager in Sligo University Hospital, have highlighted an issue. The issue is that, in order to run an adult insulin pump service, there is a requirement for a dietician and for a clinical nurse specialist. We are in the process, after budget 2020 this week, of preparing the HSE budget, service level agreements, allocations to hospital groups and the like for 2020. Therefore, it could be timely to engage with the Oireachtas Members for Sligo, the hospital and the HSE to see if this is something we can progress.
As I said, I accept the Deputy's sincerity and he has raised the issue many times. There are 30 adults who could benefit from this and I will work with him constructively to see if we can assist Sligo University Hospital to make progress on this in the coming weeks.
Question No. 13 replied to with Written Answers.