New Galway service for diabetic children

Children in need of specialist diabetic treatment will no longer have to travel to Dublin, following news that a new local nursing service is to be established.

Fine Gael Senator Fidelma Healy Eames has today welcomed the provision of the specialist diabetic nursing service for children in University College Hospital Galway (UCHG) and Mid-West Hospital in Limerick. The support amounts to 1.2 posts shared between the two hospitals and will mean that children with Type 1 diabetes will no longer have to travel to Dublin for their treatment.

“I welcome the announcement of nursing support for children with Type 1 diabetes, which will be of huge benefit to diabetic children in Galway and Limerick and their families. The nursing support will enable children to get their insulin pump treatment closer to their homes. Up to this point, children had to travel to Dublin for this treatment.

“It is vital that these posts are filled before June 2012. The later in the year we go, the higher the chances are of the posts being lost. Diabetes Ireland has also been in touch with the consultant endocrinologists in the hospitals concerned to ensure that the new posts appear in the individual hospital plans for 2012 and I will be supporting them in this call.”