Marian Harkin (Sligo-Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, Monday, 3 October, dermatology clinics were cancelled at Sligo University Hospital, SUH. A letter was sent on 22 September by Dr. McKenna, the consultant dermatologist at SUH, to healthcare providers telling them the clinics would be cancelled. The reason we have got to this point is more than 3,500 new patients are waiting for their first appointment and there are 100 new referrals each week. That is a four-year waiting list. We have a long-standing unfilled consultant post at SUH with no locum. The straw that has broken the camel's back is that Dr. McKenna now has no secretarial or administrative staff. Despite two months' notice to the hospital that this position needed to be filled, no secretary has been appointed. I read the response to Dr. McKenna and basically it states, "We can do nothing." We now have no service because there is no administrative support.

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