David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

This morning, the Irish Examiner reported that up to 6,000 patients in County Waterford and the south east are in a living nightmare due to an extraordinarily long wait for their cancer test results. At the end of last year, there was a backlog of more than 6,000 potentially cancerous tissue samples waiting to be processed in the histology department of University Hospital Waterford. This number was reduced over the past two months to 5,000 as of Monday but there are still significant delays, with some patients waiting up to six months. The samples have come to the lab from hospitals across the region, including St. Luke's, Kilkenny, and Tipperary hospital. There are samples that were taken at University Hospital Waterford and, indeed, samples taken on referral from GPs. I stress that these are routine or non-urgent samples, meaning the likelihood of cancer is reckoned to be low but they still originate due to a clinical concern raised by a medical professional.

I spoke to hospital management this morning, and I spoke to management at the hospital during the week. They told me that while most of these samples are taken to be examined as a precaution to rule out cancer, there is still a chance that some of them may indicate cancer. While the chance is low they say, that is no comfort to the 5,000 patients waiting for abnormally long periods for what should be a quick, routine test. The results are needed swiftly for both patients and clinicians. People are worried sick because their results have taken this long to be returned, and they will not have comfort until they get them. Meanwhile, clinicians need these results before they can diagnose a patient's condition. They need to be able to rule cancer in or out before identifying the problem or whether there is indeed a problem.

While the backlog has been reduced to 5,000, it has been brought down over the past month only through staff working significant, and what hospital management say is unsustainable, overtime. The histology department at University Hospital Waterford has been significantly under-resourced and understaffed staff for some time. It does not have enough consultants, histopathologists, medical scientists or support staff. This concern has been raised time and again by hospital management, including at several meetings between Oireachtas Members and hospital management in Waterford. Management has raised its concerns directly with central HSE executives and, indeed, the CEOs of the hospital groups. The hospital has issued an emergency alert to the Minister for Health in this instance because demand is exceeding capacity, and that brings risks for patient safety. Rapid diagnosis of cancer is essential for survival, as the Taoiseach knows.

Given the scale of the backlog in the south east and the waiting times for a cancer test, the hospital has sought additional histopathologists. Two consultant posts have been approved over the past few weeks but we need a stopgap solution for the south east. That must involve the redeployment of consultants and other professionals from other regions to help on a temporary basis. Indeed, this was sought by the hospital and the CEOs of the South/Southwest Hospital Group and the Ireland East Hospital Group but no help was forthcoming. I got that directly from hospital management. It is not acceptable. Will the Taoiseach ensure additional staff are redeployed to University Hospital Waterford to clear the backlog of 5,000 cancer tests? Will he also ensure cancer services in Waterford and the south east are supported to reduce waiting times and deliver quicker results and diagnoses? Will his Government commit to reviewing the cancer strategy and cancer services to ensure they are fit for purpose and that deaths from cancer can be reduced in the years ahead?

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