A major new national diabetes care programme is on target to commence in the coming weeks, starting with the recruitment of 17 specialist nurses, according to Health Minister James Reilly.

Job interviews begin this week for the new diabetes nurse specialists, who will support the phased roll-out of the long-awaited diabetes programme.

This initiative, which is the first of several HSE-led chronic disease treatment programmes to be rolled out, will see diabetes patients following a well-defined care pathway based on their type of diabetes and the level of complications.

The central aim of the national programme is to 'save lives, eyes and limbs of patients with diabetes'. Other disease-group programmes under development include stroke, heart failure, and asthma. 

Diabetes Action recently accused the HSE of failing to care for diabetes patients, citing new statistics that revealed an increase to 781 diabetes-related lower-limb amputations in Ireland in 2010/2011- a 20% increase on the previous two-year period.

“The condition is now the biggest single cause of amputation, stroke, blindness and kidney failure in this State,” according to a spokesperson for Diabetes Action.

Minister Reilly said under the new model of care,  those with uncomplicated type 2 diabetes would be managed in primary care only, while patients with complicated type 2 Diabetes will be managed both by their GPs and in hospitals by specialists.

All patients with type 1 diabetes, genetically-caused diabetes, secondary causes of diabetes, post-transplant diabetes and diabetes in pregnancy will be managed in the hospital setting only.

Minister Reilly was speaking at the recent National Primary Care Conference in Mallow, Co Cork.

It is estimated that there are currently between 3,000 to 4,000 children and young adults under 16 years of age with diabetes in Ireland.  Over 90% have type 1 diabetes but there are an increasing number of young patients developing type 2 diabetes.

The incidence of type 1 diabetes is also increasing by about 2 to 3% per year and experts anticipate that over the next 10 to 15 years the incidence of type 1 diabetes in Ireland will double.

Type 1 diabetes is a particularly complex condition in children and young adults and so it is recommended that their care be delivered in a multidisciplinary setting with access to a consultant paediatric endocrinologist and other diabetes healthcare specialists.