Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

No matter how many budgets the Government is putting forward, people are not planning this properly. The Minister said the HSE had informed him, but I contacted the HSE about this on Tuesday evening and was told it was not a matter for the HSE but for the Saolta hospital group. When I contacted the Saolta hospital group yesterday morning, its so-called communications department said it was not aware of the issue, in spite of the fact that 850 people were getting notices. It is not a case of appointments being postponed; somebody who had an appointment on 7 July is now being told the appointment is on 14 December. They are being told, "Yes, you are in pain; yes, you have an appalling condition, but you will wait until 14 December for an initial investigation".

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