Martin Kenny (Sligo-Leitrim, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I wish to raise an issue that has become very serious in Sligo University Hospital and for the entire north west. I will paint a picture of the situation for the Minister of State. If an adult or a child in Sligo, Leitrim, south Donegal or west Cavan is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, he or she is sent for an appointment and an assessment to a unit located in a two-room portakabin in a yard at the back of Sligo University Hospital. They walk through what is literally a building site as a new mental health services unit is being built in the area. The people who work in that small portakabin have to keep the windows closed because of the dust. The Minister of State can see the picture. A family arrives at that portakabin with a child who has been diagnosed with diabetes, and two other people may be waiting to be seen in that small room half the size of the area of the floor of this House. They get an assessment done on the level of insulin or whatever the child needs, they make further appointments, and each time they come back to that unit. The staff in the second room in the portakabin have their computers and their phones there. They monitor people with type 1 diabetes from across the entire north west in respect of whom they receive reports. It is a cramped and unsuitable unit. The HSE has an application in for funding the building of a new unit for the past four to five years but nothing has happened.

There is also the serious matter of people who are diagnosed with type 1 diabetes who need an insulin pump, which is a marvellous advance in treatment. I spoke to a man a number of months ago who was waiting to be fitted with an insulin pump. He knew it had been ordered. In fact, it had been purchased and was sitting on a shelf in that unit but he could not get it fitted because he needed to be trained on how to use it. The specialist nurse who provides the training had been seconded to another part of the hospital and was not available to give him the training. An 18 year old woman who is in college contacted me in recent weeks who is in the same situation. She wants to be fitted with an insulin pump and has been told there is nobody available to train her on how to use what is a simple enough piece of equipment.

There are two issues involved. One is the facility, the cramped and unsuitable unit, and the staffing of it. Quite apart from the unavailability of a specialist nurse to provide training on the use of an insulin pump, the staff who work in this small portakabin are totally stressed out, are under pressure and cannot deal with the demand for this service that they are trying to provide and are providing, in fairness, under very difficult circumstances.

I want the Minister of State to provide an assurance that any person in the north west who needs to be fitted with an insulin pump and wants to have that done will be able to get it done with all the haste that is required and that the training they need will be available as soon as they apply for it and need it. Will the Minister of State advise also regarding progress on the building of a new diabetes unit at Sligo University Hospital?

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