Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for his comprehensive reply and acknowledge that considerable progress has been made on waiting lists in general. Moreover, I fully accept clinicians' right and duty to make the clinical decision in the first instance. However, my question relates to the pain suffered by persons waiting for treatment. When one tables a parliamentary question about such cases, the standard reply is that patients whose condition has deteriorated should contact their GP. However, if the patient had not been concerned in the first place, he or she would not have contacted a public representative. Would it be possible to review the status of those patients who seem to be on a circular list and whose only means of accessing treatment quickly is to go through hospital emergency departments, with the consequent disruption of that service? I am not satisfied that every case is treated with the urgency it should be given, given the severity of pain suffered by patients.

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