On Tuesday the 8th of April the Donegal Branch will be heading to Dail Eireann to present their petition to the Minister of Health. To sign their petition and support them please click here

The children who currently attend Letterkenny General Hospital will be accompanied by their parents and a number of Donegal TDs. They will hand in a petition with 10,000 signatures to the Minister for Health on Tuesday 8 April at 2 pm.

The children’s parents will also be meeting Minister for Health James Reilly TD on Tuesday at 5.30pm to discuss the issue. A summary of their issues/grievances are:

• The experienced Diabetes Paediatric nurse in Letterkenny Hospital has being moved to a shared post with adult diabetes services depriving the children of a quality service.
• The new integrated Clinical Nurse Specialist post will be of no assistance to children as the post is for adults with type 2 diabetes, it may in fact increase the workload of the hospital team due to better detection of adults with type 2 diabetes.
• There is no funding to develop paediatric diabetes services in the HSE North West Service Plan 2014.
• The nearest ‘Paediatric Diabetes Centre of excellence’ is in Dublin and the post of Consultant Paediatrician with a special interest in Diabetes in Letterkenny Hospital is currently vacant.

For further information: Diabetes Ireland: Contact Sinead Deasy on 1850 909 909 or Denise Gillespie on 087 2902204.

Background: During the Minister for Health’s recent visit to Letterkenny Hospital, parents of children with Type 1 diabetes protested over the deterioration in paediatric diabetes services at the hospital.
Parents protested during a recent visit to Letterkenny by the Minister about the recent reduction in staffing levels in paediatric diabetes services and the lack of action by hospital management to stop this which is putting local children with diabetes at risk. Recent figures released by the hospital show that there are 105 Donegal children with diabetes under 16 years attending Letterkenny Hospital, 7 of whom were diagnosed since 1 January this year and a further 40 young adults between 16-18 years attend the diabetes transition clinic.