Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I am sorry to raise this issue but it is a crisis. This has been building for some time and it could have been avoided. I am sorry that anybody who has a serious skin complaint and who lives in the area served by University Hospital Waterford, UHW, does not have access to a dermatology service. There is no consultant dermatologist to serve the needs of the people who normally attend the former regional hospital and this is a disaster. Mr. Buckley is a retired consultant dermatologist but before he retired he went on record saying his position was untenable due to the volume of work. He stated: "It is a critical incident waiting to happen".

This is not only about a lack of consultants. Earlier this year, I raised the issue of up to 3,200 clinical letters that had yet to be processed. They have still not been typed or delivered. That means news, whether it is good or bad, has not been delivered to 3,200 people and that is not good enough.

Against the background of the letters waiting to be typed, a respected consultant having retired and another consultant going on maternity leave at the end of May, two posts lie empty while a third post is vacant. I have a letter from Mr. Richard Dooley, the hospital manager, which points out that a recruitment process is under way to fill the vacancies. The third consultant post is being re-advertised because it was not filled the first time and the word in Waterford is this was because the package being offered was not attractive enough. One has to wonder if the process will be better second time around. Is a position in the dermatology unit in UHW more attractive now than it was previously? In the meantime the dermatology unit in the hospital remains closed. Anybody with a serious skin complaint such as melanoma - the south east has one of the highest rates in the State - must be referred to a unit in Cork and this only applies to high priority cases. This serious issue needs to be addressed urgently.

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