Irish diabetes drugs disparity

Ireland is facing a diabetes crisis no less serious than the rest of the world, and a new report indicates that within the region an east-west divide in treatment of diabetes patients is emerging.
The report was carried out by the Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, based in Trinity College, Dublin . They found that those people in Kerry, Limerick and Donegal are the most likely to lose out on vital diabetes drugs.
Diabetes patients in the east, south east and the midlands of Ireland apparently fare the best when it comes to getting drugs to help lower blood pressure and high cholesterol .
The report failed to explain the disparity, saying: “The exact reasons for the difference in prescribing between regions is difficult to explain because all drugs supplied to the patients operating within both schemes are free.”
According to the study, around 200,000 people have diabetes in Ireland, although it is predicted that a further 200,000 have the disease and do not know about it. A further study, with a focus on the influence of socio-economic factors on quality of care, was also noted.
The news comes following a call by a government working group to develop strategies to identify and then treat people who may be unaware that they have diabetes. In Ireland, the incidence of type 1 is 16.8 per 100,000, above the European average.