Deputy Pearse Doherty has renewed his calls for both the Minister for Health and the HSE to urgently approve a number of key Consultant and nursing posts to support diabetes services at both Letterkenny and Sligo University Hospitals.
Deputy Doherty was speaking this week after having received confirmation from the HSE that approval has yet to be granted for the recruitment of a full-time Paediatric consultant Endocrinologist.
This is to replace the current part-time post holder who is due to step down in the coming weeks.
Meanwhile, a business case has yet to be finalised to support the appointment of a second Endocrinologist team based at Letterkenny University Hospital, despite a 20 month wait for adult patients requiring repeat appointments at the hospital.
Deputy Doherty said that over recent weeks, he has spoken with patient advocacy groups and patients themselves all raising concerns about the current deficiencies in diabetes services here in the North-west.
“Currently, there’s only one consultant Endocrinologist assigned to Letterkenny University Hospital and they provide Diabetes Services for some 700 adults with Type 1 diabetes and a further 6,500 adults with Type 2 diabetes.
“Adult patients requiring follow-up and repeat appointments are now waiting approximately 20 months to be seen by the Endocrinologist at the hospital, with those requiring urgent treatment waiting up to 6 weeks to be treated.
“As of last month, there are 19 new adult referrals awaiting an appointment with the team, having already waited for over a year now to receive treatment at diabetes patient clinics.
“The hospital has stated that one of the reasons for these waiting times is due to the significant number of children transitioning into adult diabetes services and this is having a huge impact on the hospital’s workload.
“Since 2015, children with diabetes have been offered pump therapy as part of Paediatric services based at Sligo, with outreach clinics at LUH being provided to Donegal patients however, conversions to adult services mean that the number of adult patients transitioning to the service will grow from 24 undergoing the treatment at present to 40 within the next 3-6 months.
“While hospital management has identified the need for a second Consultant Endocrinologist, Diabetic Nurse Specialist and a Diabetic Dietician to facilitate the increasing patient numbers to adult care, the latest information which I have received indicates that a business case hasn’t even yet been submitted to the authorities by the hospital for consideration.
“To make matters worse, a soon to be vacant half-time consultant Endocrinologist post for diabetes services which operates out of Sligo has also not been submitted for approval to the HSE as clarification has still to be sought with respect to securing funding for the post on a full-time basis.
“What’s clear is that all this posturing means that the authorities are sleep walking into a storm as demand on diabetes services continues to grow, yet little is being done to allow the service to meet increasing pressures.
“I have repeatedly raised issues in relation to diabetes services here in the Northwest with the Minister for Health yet those concerns seem to be falling on deaf ears, all the while patients are being forced to wait excessive periods to access vital care.
“The Minister now needs to intervene and ensure that these posts are secured and filled as quickly as possible because, without these additional supports, patient care will continue suffer.”
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