Diabetic care ‘far below’ EU standards

TREATMENT and support services for diabetes sufferers in Ireland are inadequate and fall far below the standard of other EU countries, a top medic has claimed.

Senior consultant at Dublin’s St James’s Hospital Professor John Nolan launched a blistering attack on the Government’s handling of the health system, branding facilities poorly resourced and underfunded.

He made the comments ahead of a two-day conference on diabetes, which started in Dublin today and will include presentations from a range of international specialists.

“This meeting is primarily about the care of Irish people already diagnosed and known to have diabetes,” said Prof Nolan, executive chairman of the conference.

“Frontline resources for diabetes care in Ireland are far below the standards in other EU countries and we have completely inadequate resources for patient education and support. Diabetes, as the leading chronic disease, is a litmus test for our struggling health service. Despite pockets of excellent care and high standards among professionals involved in diabetes care, we struggle because of a dysfunctional and poorly planned health system. Manpower and resources are lacking at the frontline, where they are most needed, particularly in primary care,” he said.

More than 141,000 Irish people suffer from diabetes and health chiefs predict that number will grow to 193,944, or just over 5% of the population, by 2015.

Prof Nolan said the health system was spending money treating complications arising out of the illness that could have been prevented if proper treatment standards were in place.

“Clearly, we could do better, but there is an information gap for the Irish public that we must bridge urgently, if we are to make any progress in approaching the kind of health service to which most other Europeans have easy access,” Prof Nolan said.

In 2006 the UN passed a landmark resolution recognising the global threat of diabetes as a chronic, debilitating and costly condition associated with severe complications.

Prof Nolan estimates the annual direct cost of diabetes to the health service is around €580 million.

The conference, Diabetes in Crisis — A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Treatment of Diabetes, is being held at Dublin Castle. It will run until Sunday and aims to provide clinicians with the most up-to-date research and perspectives on the condition to help improve treatment.

Among the international experts are Professor Jaakko Tuomilehto from Finland, Dr Gillian Martin from Trinity College Dublin, Professor Eberhard Standl from Munich and current president of the International Diabetes Federation.

Topics discussed will be the diabetes epidemic in Europe, and the link between globalisation, immigration and diabetes.