Calls for an emergency plan for diabetes care in Donegal are to be raised with Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly after serious concerns for patient safety were raised in the Dáil.
A lack of consultants, three-year waiting lists and the deterioration of services has led Donegal campaigners to demand urgent resources in the north west.
“We have a profound crisis in that there should be three endocrinologists in Letterkenny University Hospital but there is nobody there,” Sinn Féin Deputy Padraig Mac Lochlainn told the Dáil.
“People who get the job walk away because the level of support and resources are just not there.”
Deputy Mac Lochlainn was highlighting a letter to the Taoiseach by Donegal Branch of Diabetes Ireland Chairperson Paul Gillespie, which said that commitments made by Mr Simon Harris in 2016 and 2017 to improve diabetes care have not been honoured.
The current situation in Letterkenny University Hospital in 2024 is even worse than it was 7 years ago, Gillespie warns.
According to Gillespie, ‘There are currently NO Consultant Endocrinologists (3 vacant posts), which have led to recall waiting lists now over 36 months in some cases, whereas the HSE guideline is that people with Type 1 diabetes should be seen by an endocrinologist every 6 months.
“There are NO Advanced Nurse Practitioners in Adult Diabetes (2 posts never approved by HSE), which led to inability to provide structured diabetes education and access to insulin pump therapy, there are NO Podiatrists (2 Vacant posts), NO Paediatric Endocrinologist (never put in place by Saolta despite more than 160 children living with Type 1 Diabetes across Donegal), NO Psychologists, NO Shared Centre of Excellence for Children between LUH & Sligo University Hospital, despite the initial plans to share a centre due to the geographical isolation of LUH, and large population in Donegal.
“And there is still NO access to adult insulin pump start therapy due to severe shortage in Endocrinologists for over 10 years now and no adult ANP role.
The letter continues: “This serious under resourcing will lead to poor patient outcomes, increased hospital admissions and huge increase in a number of people suffering with the many side effects of chronic or frequent hypo- and hyperglycaemia, due to lack of support from multidisciplinary diabetes team, and frequent (bi-annual) and regular appointments.”
Deputy Mac Lochlainn is calling for an urgent meeting to be convened by the Minister for Health, Deputy Stephen Donnelly, “with all the senior people”, and that LUH be upgraded to model 4 hospital status.
Speaking on behalf of government Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that the HSE should be engaged with in the first instance: “We can write to the Taoiseach of the day but it will go back down the chain,” Minister Martin said.
“The Minister for Health has to deal with it, as does the HSE within the broader programme on diabetes generally. There has been substantial increased investment in LUH over the past number of years with increases in staff and so on. I will talk to the Minister for Health and make him aware of the fact that the issue has been raised.”