Insulin pump waiting list
Deputy Pringle described a constituent’s year-long wait for an insulin pump and the strain on people with type 1 diabetes. The Minister of State said she would raise the case with the Health Minister’s office and acknowledged uneven access across the country.
Recently, a constituent of mine wrote to me for the third time in less than a year. She stated:
This month will mark one year since I joined the waiting list for an insulin pump in Sligo University Hospital, and still there is no end in sight. In fact, I have been informed that almost no one has been taken off this list in the past year and I am essentially in the same position I was in one year ago.
She continued:
Type 1 is a horrifyingly hard diagnosis to live with and affects almost every part of ... [her] life. This diagnosis and subsequent wait on a pump has wreaked havoc on ... [her] mental health, as I am sure it has with many others. Why am I not being afforded the tech necessary to keep me healthy and ultimately be less of a burden to the healthcare system?
I have raised this matter three times in the last 11 months. I tabled more than two dozen questions with regard to different aspects of diabetes care in the north-west region and nothing has changed. Unfortunately, the Minister of Health is in New York today so I probably will not get an answer to this either. I will ask the Minister of State, however. Will the Government ensure that funding is provided for a dedicated pump nurse in the adult diabetes services in Sligo immediately?
Comment on this
I have heard the Deputy raise the question previously. I will be honest with him; I am not over the detail of this but if he wants to share his constituent's concerns with me, I will make sure he gets an answer from the Minister, Deputy Donnelly's, office.
I am aware there are certain areas in the country where insulin pumps are not as available as they are in others. It is a bit of a post code lottery. I will certainly raise the issue of funding for this with the Minister. When a person is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, it is a huge issue that he or she must live with for the rest of his or her life and the insulin pump does make life a whole lot easier.