Councillor Adrian Glackin has said that children with diabetes in Donegal are being treated unfairly due to the lack of local services.
Parents of children with diabetes have been campaigning for years to get a Centre of Excellence in the North West to provide specialist paediatric diabetes care and additional services to improve the standard of care.
Speaking at this week’s Donegal County Council meeting, Cllr Glackin highlighted the fact that there is no Diabetes Centre of Excellence above the Limerick-Dublin line. “It is not just cancer, there are a number of illnesses that aren’t being treated correctly in the northwest that people have to travel for.”
“A cost of €1.5million needs to be ring-fenced to get the centre open,” Cllr Glackin added, “I would ask that the council support that €1.5million is money well spent.”
A total of 7,000 people in Donegal have been diagnosed as having diabetes, of whom 700 have Type 1 diabetes. The Donegal branch of Diabetes Ireland says the waiting time for a follow-up appointment for adults at Letterkenny University Hospital is more than 24 months for patients with Type 1 diabetes. The HSE’s own guidelines recommend that patients with Type 1 diabetes be reviewed every 6 months.
“The children of Donegal should not be treated as second hand citizens,” Cllr Glackin said.
“Some children are waiting up to 18 months for consultant appointments. We all know someone who suffers from diabetes, let’s get the Donegal people and the people of the North West the support they require.”
Cllr Glackin called on Donegal County Council to send submissions with support for the Donegal Diabetes Association to Senator James Reilly, Minister Zappone, Minister Harris and the Saolta Healthcare group.
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