Ciara Conway (Waterford, Labour) | Oireachtas source

While I thank the Minister of State, I regret that the Minister for Health, Deputy James Reilly, is not here because the response was in direct contravention of what we were promised in the Higgins report. According to the response, the dermatology clinical nurse specialist will travel to Cork for clinics. We were told patients would not have to travel but that consultants would come to them. What plan, if any, is in place for the specialists in Cork to come and serve the needs of the people of Waterford? This is not good enough. It is not the health care to which we are entitled and which we were promised in the Higgins report. It makes a mockery of the name change to University Hospital Waterford which rings hollow in the wake of this mess. The south east, in which the hospital in Waterford is the leading cancer specialist centre, has the highest rate of skin cancer in the country, yet we do not have a consultant dermatologist. I ask the Minister of State to ask the Minister to do something very quickly to address this issue because this is contrary to what we were promised in the Higgins report.

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