Oireachtas Joint and Select Committees

Thursday, 10 July 2014

Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children

Quarterly Update on Health Issues: Minister for Health

11:40 am

Dr. Tony O'Connell:

I am sure we can have those conversations with the maintenance provider in the next couple of days. The other half of the question was on dermatology. We are having a similar problem with the recruitment of dermatologists. Clearly, we would like with the development of hospital groups to have a shared service across all of the hospitals within the group. However, that is limited by the absolute number of hours the consultants can provide. Nationally, especially in the middle and west of the country, there are challenges in getting consultants across a range of specialities. The plan is not to shrink the service but to provide the service that is possible within the context of the number of consultants available and employed.