Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)
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79. To ask the Minister for Health if there is a national policy guiding the Health Service Executive in terms of insulin pump treatment for young persons with diabetes; if it is planned that the policy be applied equally on a national basis; if funding constraints are preventing the implementation of the policy outside of Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36489/14]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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National policy for paediatric/adolescent diabetes care was informed by the Diabetes Expert Advisory Group. It recommended that continuous subcutaneous insulin infusion or pump therapy should be the primary treatment option in children, especially those aged less than five years of age. It also recommended the regionalisation of care. The centres envisaged for care were in the major regional hospitals.

On foot of the Diabetes Expert Advisory Group’s Report, the Paediatric Diabetes Working Group was established in 2011 under the auspices of the HSE Paediatrics and Diabetes Clinical Programmes. In 2012, the Working Group developed a model of care for the provision of insulin pump therapy for children under five years with Type 1 diabetes. It reported that it viewed the model of care as “the first step in a stepwise progression of the evolution of a National Paediatric Diabetes Model of Care”.

The improvement of services under the National Diabetes Programme is being implemented on a phased basis. As part of this progress, there are now 5 paediatric diabetes centres in Ireland providing insulin pump therapy. These are Cork University Hospital, Limerick University Hospital/Galway shared service, Children’s University Hospital at Temple Street, Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital at Crumlin, and Tallaght Hospital. All regional centres have prioritised children under five years of age for the provision of therapy. Proposals to deal with any service issues outside Dublin - such as those relating to pumps for children over five years at University Hospital Galway - will be considered in the context of the annual Service Planning process.

Finally, the HSE has advised that a model for the provision of care to all children under 16 years of age with Type 1 diabetes is currently being drafted.