Minister of State for Primary Care Alex White has pledged that long-delayed nurse specialist posts for diabetes care in the community will be filled by the end of June.

The nurse posts are part of a planned programme for the extension of diabetes care from hospitals into GP practices and primary care.

The nurses, who will work as part of an integrated care system between hospitals and primary care, will work for four days a week in the community and one day in hospitals.

The nurse recruitment is part of a plan whereby new programme where GPs and other primary care staff, rather than hospitals, will deal with around 100,000 patients with uncomplicated diabetes.

Minister White also announced that the recruitment process for the filling of 250 primary care staff posts was now underway, and €18 million had been allocated this year for this.

These new staff will include public health nurses, physiotherapists and speech therapists. The posts were due to be filled last year but the recruitment process was postponed due to the HSE's funding difficulties.

The 250 new posts are part of the Government's strategy to transfer care across a wide range of disease areas from hospitals to the community and to provide a greater range or services for patients in primary care.

However, the Government's plan has been criticised for the length of time it is taking to come to fruition.

Minister White made the announcement about the additional staff at the AGM of the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP) at the weekend.