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

This is the fifth or sixth time I have raised this issue regarding people with type 1 diabetes in the north west. Some 31 patients would benefit from having an automatic insulin pump fitted. The problem is that they cannot get the pumps fitted although they are on the shelf waiting for them because a diabetic nurse or specialist nursing staff are unavailable to train them in how to use them. The situation has been going on for six months. I have raised the issue on numerous occasions. I have spoken to the manager of the hospital and I have written to the hospital. I have written to the CEO of the hospital group. I raised the matter three times with the senior Minister, Deputy Harris. In fairness to him, he has always been very accommodating and he has told me that he would get back to me. I raised the matter with him again no later than last Tuesday week. I met him afterwards and he said he would get back to me before the end of the day. I know he is depending on people in the HSE to get back to him with answers, but nobody seems to have the answers.

In addition, Suzanne Donnelly, chairperson of the Sligo branch of Diabetes Ireland, wrote to the Minister's private secretary a few weeks ago about the 31 patients in the north west. The reply she received was outrageous. It said that under the 2004 HSE Act the Minister could not intervene on behalf of an individual patient. Her letter was not about an individual patient; her letter was about a service which was denied to people in the north west, and it is being continually denied.

I do not know who in the HSE is so incompetent or what idiot is not doing his or her job, but the only time the Minister, the Department and the HSE will gain any credibility with the public is when such people are sacked and lose their job and they will have to go to the Labour Court to explain why they are so god damn incompetent that they think that their job is to block people from getting a service.

I rarely get angry but it makes me very angry when the genuine people who have come to me, who need to get the service and are waiting for it, are being fobbed off and told the hospital has applied to get a nurse to provide the service. The nurse who was providing the service in the hospital in Sligo was seconded to another part of the hospital. She was not sacked and she did not go on maternity leave. Now the hospital says it has to apply to the HSE to get someone to replace her. The hospital says it is waiting for approval for the post. The post exists and those people are waiting. It is shameful that the situation has continued for so long. I do not blame the Minister directly but I do blame him for not dealing with it. Some individual somewhere is failing the people with type 1 diabetes in the north west who need an insulin pump. He or she will not take responsibility and hides behind bits of paper saying do not write to me about it again.

The Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, is here to respond. She has been given a response to read. To be honest, I do not expect it to be much better than the one Suzanne Donnelly got. It would be great if it is, but we are in trouble until we get to grips with the people in the HSE who think their job is to block progress and prevent people from getting their entitlements. The only way we will deal with them is to kick them out, give them their P45 and let them take a case to the Labour Court or wherever they want, but that is the only way the Minister can be seen to stand up for the patients who need somebody to stand up for them. I know the Minister, Deputy Harris, is genuine about this but along with the Minister of State, Deputy Catherine Byrne, and others who are also genuine, they need to stand up to the people who are blocking others in society who deserve to get a service.

See this speech in context