Group: Limbs lost to diabetes every day
Every day a diabetes patient has a limb amputated — a drastic procedure that could be avoided, according to Diabetes Action.
It points out that between 2010 and 2011 there were 781 diabetes lower limb amputations — one of the tragic and costly complications of Type 2 diabetes.
And it describes as alarming that sanctioned posts in integrated care, podiatry, and paediatric care remain unfilled despite funding being available to the HSE since the start of the year.
Consultant endocrinologist and Diabetes Action chairman Dr Kevin Moore said that with 200,000 diabetes patients in the country, it was impossible to provide all the outpatient care they needed in a hospital setting.
“There are waiting times in excess of two years in certain diabetes centres; care must be distributed more evenly.”
Dr Moore said half of diabetes patients could have their care provided by a GP and a nurse in a local setting, freeing up hospitals to deal with complex patients.
“Political leadership is urgently needed to tackle the increasingly desperate situation in diabetes clinics and hospital wards.”
He said integrated care, a new GP-based approach to treating Type 2 diabetes, would prevent health complication and avoid costly hospital treatment, but service implementation was stalled. He said funds were available for 17 integrated care posts, nine posts in podiatry, and just over four posts in paediatric diabetes services. However, these remained unfilled.
To date, only eight podiatrist posts out of a promised 16 had been filled, leaving Type 2 diabetes patients more susceptible than ever to foot ulceration and unnecessary and preventable amputations.
He said figures showed one fifth of diabetes-related hospital admissions were foot problems with complex cases, costing up to €300,000.
“It is cost-effective for the Government to invest in the prevention of foot ulcers and infections. It is possible to reduce the cost of diabetic foot disease by half if the HSE fully implements its foot care strategy and fills the remaining podiatry posts.”
Another concern is that children with Type 1 diabetes are being denied access to insulin pumps because of unfilled nursing and dietetic posts. The HSE commitment to making insulin pumps available outside of Dublin — at Cork University Hospital, University College Galway, and the Mid-West Regional Hospital in Limerick — has not happened.
The Department of Health said it is anticipated that the 17 integrated care posts would be filled soon and that the recruitment for the podiatry and paediatric diabetes care posts is under way. It is aimed that these posts will be filled as soon as possible this year.
*The diabetes lobby group includes Diabetes Ireland, the Irish Diabetes Specialist Nurse Association and the Diabetes Section of the Irish Endocrine Society.
