Written answer
Mental Health Policy
The Minister said Ireland’s first National Diabetes Strategy was launched on 21 May, with recommendations covering service development, access, support and digital healthcare. The HSE is preparing an implementation plan, while decisions on funding regional clinical leads and mental-health supports will be addressed through the 2027 Estimates and HSE resource-allocation processes.
623. Deputy Pádraig O'Sullivan asked the Minister for Health if consideration is being given to providing dedicated funding for mental health and wellbeing supports for people living with diabetes, and their parents or carers where appropriate, including through programmes delivered by Diabetes Ireland. [66886/26]
Comment on this
627. Deputy Barry Heneghan asked the Minister for Health her plans to begin the implementation of the National Diabetes Strategy by providing funding to create a regional diabetes clinical lead post in each HSE Health Region including in North Dublin in the upcoming budget. [66992/26]
Comment on this
661. Deputy Peter 'Chap' Cleere asked the Minister for Health her plans to begin the implementation of the National Diabetes Strategy by providing funding to create a Regional Diabetes Clinical Lead post in each HSE Health Region in the upcoming budget; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [67181/26]
Comment on this
673. Deputy Colm Burke asked the Minister for Health for an update on the development and implementation of the National Diabetes Strategy; and the funding has been provided to commence implementation of priority actions under the strategy. [67243/26]
Comment on this
I propose to take Questions Nos. 623, 627, 661 and 673 together.
The assets.gov.ie/static/documents/a41e7d5d/Diabetes_Policy_and_Services_Review_-_A_Strategy_for_Better_Care.pdf.was launched on the 21st of May.
This is Ireland’s first national strategy for diabetes, marking a major milestone in diabetes care in Ireland. It provides a detailed assessment of our current diabetes services and sets out series of recommendations and actions to improve diabetes care delivery. The recommendations cover four key themes:
• Service Development
• Affordability and Access to care
• Better support for people living with diabetes
• Digital Healthcare
The recommendations are marked in the strategy as either short, medium or long-term goals. Short-term refers to recommendations which can be implemented within three years. Medium term recommendations can be implemented within five years, and long-term recommendations are those that will take longer than five years to fully implement.
The HSE is currently working to develop an implementation plan to ensure that the recommendations are followed through at national level and throughout the Health Regions.
Discussions relating to the 2027 Estimates process are underway and will not be concluded until closer to the date of the Budget. The HSE National Service Plan will be published after the budgetary process concludes.
Under the new HSE regional structure, the Department allocates the overall HSE budget and staffing ceiling. The detailed operational decisions on how those resources are deployed within and across Health Regions are a matter for the HSE.
While annual policy priorities and performance expectations are set out in the National Service Plan, the HSE, and specifically the REOs, are accountable for delivering these priorities in their Regions within their budget allocations. The Department does not specify funding or staffing line by line for individual services. Instead, the Department sets the overall budget and required outputs, and the HSE is responsible for prioritising its resources to meet the agreed targets.