Diabetes care issues at Letterkenny University Hospital remain unresolved 

The Donegal Branch of Diabetes Ireland hopes to meet with Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly and the HSE as soon as possible to tackle the growing inequalities in accessing diabetes care within the county. 

Despite ongoing efforts by the local branch to improve adult diabetes services in Letterkenny University Hospital (LUH), they have said that the "critical situation remains unresolved with little or no engagement by the government and the HSE".

No solutions have yet been found to solve the situation, they said. 

"Although multiple Parliamentary Questions were asked by local TDs, the replies are not satisfactory and don’t suggest any solutions for more than 500 adults with type 1 diabetes receiving diabetes care in Donegal," they added. 

Of the 522 adults attending LUH, 387 are currently awaiting a review appointment. Of those waiting, 236 are waiting for less than 6 months (61%).  

Almost 40% wait for much longer (112 people up to 2 years, and 39 even longer than that), which means that the clinical guidelines recommendations for adults with type 1 diabetes from 2018 are not being met (diabetes review appointment bi-annually, every 6 months).

These delays are directly associated with the lack of staffing and under-resourced diabetes team in LUH. 

ABOVE: Letterkenny University Hospital

Although multiple consultant posts are approved, there is currently only one consultant endocrinologist privately contracted for 12 hours per week to provide outpatient diabetes services. 

The Donegal Branch of Diabetes Ireland has suggested having consultant endocrinologists from Galway provide some temporary outreach outpatient diabetes satellite clinics for adult patients with Type 1 diabetes which will help alleviate the situation there until the vacant posts are filled. Hopefully, a meeting with the HSE might shed some further light on the suggestion.