Marc MacSharry (Fianna Fail)

I propose an amendment to the Order of Business, that the Minister for Health attend the House immediately to make a statement on and discuss the urgent measures that are clearly required to deal with the 218,000 people waiting for a hospital outpatient appointment. Following referral from a GP, 218,000 people are waiting for a simple outpatient appointment to see a consultant in a hospital. This is long before they presumably get onto another waiting list to determine when their treatment might take place. Most worrying, 800 of these patients are waiting for more than four years. Lives are clearly being lost here. Conditions are worsening medically for these people as a result of having to wait such an inordinately long time.

I am sure the Leader is most concerned about this given that 540 of the 800 patients are in County Waterford. One wonders if a hospital which is considered to be a centre of excellence for such treatments is being adequately resourced by the Government. If not, what steps are being taken to ensure that the people of the south east and Waterford city are given the appropriate care? A four year waiting list for an outpatient appointment is ridiculous in the extreme. Roscommon is another area where there have been cutbacks. Indeed, the next largest number among the 800 is in that area. Clearly, resources are an issue when one must wait such a long time after being referred by a GP. When one considers what my colleague said about the posturing within the Cabinet about whose adviser gets what maximum payout, despite the €137,000 pension, it seems inconceivable that rather than the basic right of people to get appointments on referral from their GP we are more concerned with the amounts that Ministers' advisers will be paid. How many advisers does it take to show people that action is required? The figure of 218,000 people is a national scandal.