PARENTS of 141 children in County Donegal who are being treated for Type 1 Diabetes have accused the hospital of ‘outrageous spin’ after a nurse who looks after them was axed.
The full-time specialist nurse position has been done away with by Letterkenny General Hospital.
Instead she will join a team which will look after the children AND 5,200 adult diabetes patients.
Outraged relatives – including double Olympian Danny McDaid – today picketed the hospital as Health Minister Dr James Reilly re-opened the emergency department which was flooded last July.
But his trip was overshadowed by the sight of young children with potentially-fatal type 1 diabetes holding placards at the entrance.
As Dr Reilly left the hospital to have a walkabout at the Cheshire apartments, crowds of relatives demanded that the specialist trained nursing position be reinstated.
They surrounded the Minister’s PR advisor and Junior Minister Dinny McGinley demanding that children-only services return.
Mum Denise Gillespie, who met the Minister to discuss the issue, was furious at how their campaign had been reported elsewhere this afternoon.
“The amount of spin is unbelievable and unfortunately some people have swallowed it,” said Denise, whose 14-year-old daughter Emer has diabetes.
“The facts remain the same. We had a dedicated paediatric-trained expert nurse working with all the children here in County Donegal,” she said.
“That position has gone. The nurse is still there but she is integrated into the adult service along with other nurses who do not have any qualifications to deal with paediatric diabetes.”
She said the Minister had said he would look at using national resources in the five centres in Dublin, Cork and Limerick to help patients in Donegal.
This could include a phone service for parents, said Dr Reilly.
“The nurse on the other end of the phone needs to know the unique circumstances of every patient,” said Mrs Gillespie.
Experts say a dedicated children-only diabetes nurse should be provided for every 100 children with the illness. The hospital proposals breach those guidelines.
Anne McLaughlin, from Buncrana has a 10-year-old son Michael who has Type 1 diabetes.
“We are losing out here,” she said.
“They are merging paediatric services with adult services and that is highly dangerous.
“We have to take my son to Dublin as he is fitted with an insulin pump. That means a 5am start once a month; getting back at 8pm.
“These services should be here – all five centres of excellence are in the south of the country, 3 in Dublin, one in Cork and one in Limerick. It’ just wrong.”
She said 50 patients with fitted insulin pumps made the journey to Dublin – at a combined cost of €10,000 a month out of their own pockets.
Many parents asked why nursing experts couldn’t come to Letterkenny for three or four days every month instead.
In a statement the hospital said: “The National Clinical Programme for Diabetes has created a new post for an Integrated Diabetes Clinical Nurse Specialist and as a result, the nursing resource in Letterkenny General Hospital will be restructured, delivering benefits to both children and adults with Diabetes.
“There are currently two Clinical Nurse Specialist posts and one Staff Nurse post in the Diabetic service at Letterkenny General Hospital. These resources will remain unchanged. A new post of Integrated Diabetes Clinical Nurse Specialist will link diabetic hospital care to diabetic community services.
“The outcome of these changes will be that nursing support for children with diabetes within the hospital will remain at current levels. Overall services will be enhanced through the support of the Integrated Services Clinical Nurse Specialist, who will work across both the hospital and the community.
“One of the two hospital Clinical Nurse Specialist posts will have a focus on children with diabetes and the other will have a focus on adults with diabetes. A staff nurse with experience in diabetes is being recruited to support both these roles. The existing midwifery allocation to support pregnant women with diabetes will also continue unchanged.
“The hospital is in the process of recruiting permanent Consultants to two vacant posts within the Paediatric service. One of these posts is being advertised as a Consultant Paediatrician with a Special Interest in Diabetes. In the interim, Consultant cover for children with diabetes is currently being provided by a locum Consultant Paediatrician.”
Hospital manager Sean Murphy admitted that one of the roles would focus two thirds of the time on child patients – while another nurse would spend around half her time on paediatric care.
The consultant won’t be hired for at least six months.
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