Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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1042. To ask the Minister for Health to publish the total expenditure on diabetes care and diabetes-related complications in 2023 and 2024; to confirm the basis for cost calculations; and whether annual reporting on diabetes expenditure will be introduced to ensure transparency in planning and resource allocation. [61709/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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As this is a service matter, this PQ has been referred to the HSE to respond.

Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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1043. To ask the Minister for Health the way the Health Information Bill 2024 will support the development of a national diabetes register; the expected implementation timeline; and how the register will support prevention, service planning, and early intervention for patients at risk of complications. [61710/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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The Health Information Bill, which is part of a suite of planned legislative measures to give full effect to the EU Regulation on the European Health Data Space, completed Dáil Committee Stage in July and will proceed to Dáil Report Stage shortly.

It will provide a legislative basis for the introduction of electronic health records for all patients in Ireland which will, in turn, allow for improvements in the development of patient registries including by facilitating better connections with the wider health data system.

The Bill will also introduce a statutory duty to share personal health data across healthcare settings for the purposes of care and treatment and empowers the HSE to request health information for specified public interest purposes, including public health and policymaking activities.

An effective health system needs to be supported by reliable and timely integrated data across health care and other organisations to function in an evidence-based and responsive way.

In 2025, a multidisciplinary team consisting of a Clinical lead, a programme manager, administrator and a data analyst was appointed to scope out and develop a National Diabetes Registry (NDR) in Ireland.

A multi-stakeholder NDR working group has been established with input from clinicians, technology and transformation, patient advocate association & data controllers. Governance structures are being established within the Population/Public Health division of the HSE.

Using the Individual Health Identifier (IHI) the NDR team plans to curate and link existing health care datasets relevant to diabetes care. Therefore, the NDR will serve as a comprehensive collection of diabetes-related information compiled from multiple data sources.

The NDR is being developed in a multi-annual phased approach, with the initial focus on identifying the true prevalence of diabetes in Ireland. When established, the NDR will support clinicians and the health system to improve decision making for better patient care.

Going forward it is expected that the NDR will be linked with other datasets within and outside the HSE to enable a range of advanced analytics that will take into account wider health determinants, to develop a better case for change around investment in prevention and early intervention in the community. The range of analytics will include, among other things, robust population segmentation to understand the complexity of the diabetes cohort and how it is changing over time, risk stratification to better target diabetes patients for early intervention and integrated case management, evaluating impact of new models of diabetes care and care pathways on patient outcomes and demand modelling and capacity planning to better inform future resource allocation.

Further details will be discussed by the NDR Working Group once the governance structures and data protection approvals are in place.

Erin McGreehan (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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1044. To ask the Minister for Health the measures being taken to support the adoption of digital and connected health technologies in diabetes management, including real-time data-sharing platforms; and the way in which equitable access will be ensured for rural and lower-income patients. [61711/25]

Jennifer Carroll MacNeill (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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As this is a service matter it has been referred to the Health Service Executive for direct reply to the Deputy.