Doctor warns diabetes services for children at hospital lack staff and resources

Regional Hospital Mullingar’s paediatric diabetics services has previously closed for several months three years ago due to staff shortages and a lack of resources. File picture: James Flynn/APX

The head of paediatric diabetes services in Regional Hospital Mullingar has written to the parents of patients, warning them of a chronic staffing crisis and lack of resources for services.

In the letter, Professor Michael O’Grady told parents that the service in Mullingar is “once again without any nursing support” and that “we have lost more than a years’ progress in under six months because of under-resourcing”.

There are currently 145 children attending at Regional Hospital Mullingar’s paediatric diabetics services from around the region, which previously closed for several months three years ago due to staff shortages and a lack of resources.

Currently, the service’s current advanced nurse practitioner has the workload intended for 2.6 nurses, he said.

Prof. O’Grady used an analogy to illustrate what his view on it is like to work as a frontline worker in the HSE.

“As a new employee, you are like a new car,” he said. 

All seems well at first, but then you are asked to carry more passengers than is safe to do so. Your engine is revved excessively and never serviced. Your tires go bald. You ask for new tires and are told that they are unnecessary.

Prof. O’Grady said concerns would be ignored by management until the car was crashed.

“Management have no idea why the crash happened and come to the conclusion that the car must have been defective and the crash therefore unavoidable,” he added, before warning the service is at risk of permanent closure.

Speaking later on RTÉ’s Liveline, he explained why he wrote the letter.

“It's really important that parents know why their emails aren't being responded to, why there's nobody at the end of the phone like there should be. The primary purpose of the letter was to inform them about why the current situation exists and that basically the service needs their help to try and rectify this position.”

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Prof. O’Grady added that only a simple fix is required and wouldn’t require “huge resources” to do so. He said that particular nurse needs help to be able to provide the services required, which would show her the respect she deserves.

Sinn Féin TD Sorca Clarke said the issue must be urgently addressed. “Children and their parents should not be forced to travel the length and breadth of the country to receive basic and necessary healthcare,” she said.

In a statement on behalf of Regional Hospital Mullingar, the HSE said the release of a "successful candidate" to add to the service "has not been possible due to the pressures on the unscheduled care service and unfortunately, there is also a challenge given the specialist nature of the position to secure agency cover".

It added: "An interim plan was discussed with the clinical lead at a meeting last week and the Hospital management provided a commitment to finalise a solution towards addressing the longer term staffing needs of this service which ensures stability and avoids any impact for paediatric diabetes patients and their families."