Thomas Pringle (Donegal, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I have raised the issue of diabetes care many times in the House. Despite that not much investment is needed, diabetes treatment seems to be left idle. We spend €1.3 billion per year on diabetes treatment, €800 million of which is spent on treating the complications of the illness. This €800 million could be significantly reduced with proper management of diabetes care. It is not often that savings can clearly be made in health spending. Proper care of diabetes is one of these opportunities.

In Donegal, of 666 adults with type 1 diabetes, only 20 attending Letterkenny University Hospital have access to an insulin pump. This week, I received a letter from a constituent who, after living with diabetes since he was eight years old, was approved for a pump. However, Sligo University Hospital is the only place adults from Donegal can have a pump fitted. Letterkenny University Hospital does not have staff to fit pumps. My constituent was delighted to get a quick appointment for Sligo hospital and even more when he was told his pump would be fitted before the end of January this year. Given that he was due to start a new job in Scotland on 1 March, the timing could not have been better. However, ten days ago he received a call from Sligo telling him the diabetes nurses hours had been cut by 15 hours per week and that they could not now fit his pump. There are seven insulin pumps in Sligo that will not be fitted and that are gathering dust at a cost of €4,700 each. In his letter, he said:

I can go to Dublin and have a pump fitted privately, but I won't, and it's not because of the money. I should not even have to go to Sligo. These services should be provided here in our local hospitals where they have all our history and the staff know us. I have now lost a great career opportunity in Scotland because of this, as I need the security of the insulin and the blood glucose sensor before starting my job and this opportunity is now gone.

As the Tánaiste knows, there is little hope of this man getting a job in Donegal. The Government has made many claims that health spending is at record levels.

No doubt the Tánaiste will quote that back to me in response to this question. Despite this, we see the hours of diabetes nurses in Sligo University Hospital being cut, meaning that insulin pumps that would save the health services money are not being fitted and, due to staffing shortages, the pumps cannot be fitted in Letterkenny University Hospital either.

What will the Tánaiste say to Ciaran, the writer of that letter, and to the six other patients who have not had their pumps fitted? Why is it, when savings can clearly be made in the health service through proper management of diabetes care, the Government will not make the resources available to ensure the proper management of this disease?

See this speech in context