Pauline Tully (Sinn Fein)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an Aire Stáit. This matter relates to paediatric diabetic services, specifically insulin pump services, in Cavan and Monaghan general hospital. I raised it with the previous Minister for Health, former Deputy Stephen Donnelly, in the Dáil on a number of occasions. Parents of children and young people have approached me to say that children with a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes were unable to access insulin pump therapy through Cavan General Hospital and had to be referred to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda or Temple Street hospital in Dublin. As stated, I raised the issue with the former Minister and, in fairness, he pursued it. I received a letter in May 2023 stating that the service would be expanded to include the provision of insulin pump therapy to children and young people from the Cavan and Monaghan area in Cavan and Monaghan hospital. The previous pathway required onward referral from Cavan and Monaghan hospital to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital Drogheda and Temple Street hospital.

We were delighted that this treatment was earmarked to be available in quarter 3 of 2023. That quarter and the following quarter came and went and parents were still telling me that insulin pump therapy was still unavailable in Cavan and Monaghan. I submitted a parliamentary question. The reply indicated that services had been expanded to include children in Cavan and Monaghan hospital in quarter 4 of 2023. However, parents were telling me that this had not happened and that referrals were still required. I followed up on the issue with a further parliamentary question, asking why 24 paediatric patients from Cavan and Monaghan were still travelling to Drogheda for insulin pump therapy. I was told that the pathway had been extended but was being managed through Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. The situation had not changed. One still had to be referred from the diabetic team in Cavan General Hospital to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda if one wanted access to insulin pump therapy. This was important for children who were quite young and did not want to inject themselves or have their parents inject them daily. Children were meeting one team in Cavan General Hospital and another in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. One parent told me about having an appointment in Cavan General Hospital in the morning and another in the afternoon at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda. That meant a whole day. The child was not in school and the parent had to take a day off work.

I am asking for clarification. Is this service going to be provided in Cavan, as promised by the former Minister and indicated in the first letter I received from the RCSI Hospitals Group?