Meeting of the Parliament 10 January 2017
I, too, thank Clare Adamson for bringing this important debate to the chamber.
I am a member of the cross-party group on diabetes and although my initial area of interest was type 2 diabetes and its prevention, I am fast catching up on the details of type 1 diabetes, the difficulties that living with the disease can bring, the fast pace at which technology that can bring relief to sufferers is developing, and the incredible work that is being done by the JDRF and others in the search to find a cure.
A decade ago, the daughter of a friend of mine was diagnosed with the condition at the age of four. How does a parent explain to their four-year-old that she has to have injections every day? My friend gave himself a placebo injection at the same time as his daughter had her injection to help her through it—parents will do anything that they have to. A cure cannot come fast enough.
It has been a steep learning curve for me on the CPG, and my colleague, Emma Harper, who is the group co-convener and a very patient teacher, has led my education. Ms Harper can speak from personal experience, and she has a much deeper knowledge and understanding of the disease than I have and speaks much more eloquently and in more depth on the subject than I can.
I coach an athlete who has type 1 diabetes. He goes through the routine of testing his blood sugar at the start of every training session to ensure that it is at the correct level for intense physical activity. That speaks to a very important point, which is that, in most cases, with careful monitoring and a healthy diet, having a type 1 diabetes diagnosis does not prevent a person from continuing with a full, active and inclusive lifestyle. For example, the athlete concerned has medalled at the Scottish championship and—let us face it—it is possible to be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and still become Prime Minister.
However, it has become clear to me that there is an uneven spread of access to information, advice, education and certain types of treatment, especially treatment that involves developing technology such as insulin pumps and constant glucose monitoring. That inequality inevitably leads, in turn, to inequality of opportunity and inequality in people’s ability to lead more fulfilling, inclusive and productive lives. We in the cross-party group have heard compelling testaments to the difference that an insulin pump can make to the lifestyle and therefore the wellbeing of a type 1 diabetes sufferer. I can remember a talk that was given at the most recent meeting of the CPG by a young lady about her intense struggles with the condition, which included blackouts, hypoglycaemia, a year lost at university and the constant mental pressure of not knowing when the next collapse might happen. Now that she has been fitted with an insulin pump, despite her initial reservations, it has transformed her life. She now lives a normal, fulfilling life and has even learned to drive, which she thought would be far beyond her reach.
While the search for a cure continues, the challenge in tackling type 1 diabetes is twofold. Education is key to ensuring that all have access both to the information that they require to understand the condition and to the innovations and management systems that allow for normal living. Secondly, a constant financial battle is going on in the health service for appropriate funding to be allocated to the treatment of all diseases and conditions, as well as research into the development of more effective treatments and, ultimately, cures. It is becoming more and more of a juggling act to ensure that all bases are covered, and some of the covers on those bases are inevitably wearing rather thin.
We must not consider conditions in isolation. For example, if we were able to reverse the rise in the incidence of type 2 diabetes and the consequent increasing drain on NHS resources—we are talking about some 12 per cent of the NHS’s overall spend—some of those savings, along with savings on other preventable diseases such as obesity, alcoholism, drug addiction, smoking, musculoskeletal conditions, strokes and heart disease, could be reallocated to the treatment of type 1 diabetes and research into finding a cure. Such a reallocation of precious resource could ensure that access to effective treatments for type 1 diabetes need not be a postcode lottery.
I warmly welcome the chance to discuss type 1 diabetes in Scotland, to commend our NHS staff for their commitment to delivering the very best in care and treatment to sufferers, and to highlight the fantastic research work that the JDRF and other organisations are doing to treat and ultimately cure this potentially debilitating condition.
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