Violet-Anne Wynne (Clare, Sinn Fein)
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561. To ask the Minister for Health if there is a plan to address the fact that University Hospital Limerick is the only hospital group in the country being excluded from expansion of DAFNE dose adjustment for normal eating structured type 1 diabetes education for adults; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that persons in County Clare feel this is discriminatory, disadvantaging rural dwellers and counter to the vision set out in Sláintecare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54035/21]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish National Clinical Guidelines for Adults with Type 1 diabetes recommends that a structured education programme of proven benefit, for example the DAFNE (dose-adjustment for normal eating) programme be offered to all individuals with Type 1 diabetes. Currently in Ireland the DAFNE programme is the only programme that meets the required accreditation criteria for this guideline.

For a hospital diabetes centre to become a DAFNE centre, a team comprising a doctor, nurse and dietitian with expertise in the management of diabetes from that centre is required to complete the DAFNE training, enter into a licence agreement with DAFNE and continue to meet the accreditation standards aligned. It is the responsibility of each local hospital team to arrange the licence agreement and associated training, delivery and evaluation.

The National Clinical Programme for Diabetes is currently working to advise and support relevant diabetes centres to advance their rollout of the DAFNE programme to meet the clinical recommendations that all adults with type 1 diabetes be offered a structured education programme of proven benefit. Support has been provided to the diabetes team in Limerick University Hospital in this respect. UHL will be further enabled by the additional staffing allocation supported by the Enhanced Community Care funding, whose role includes the delivery of Type 1 diabetes Self-Management education, e.g., DAFNE.

Developing diabetes services is a core focus for the UL Hospitals Group who are committed to improving the service for their patients.