David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister for coming to the House. I have raised the issue of long outpatient waiting times at Waterford Regional Hospital a number of times in the House. My party health spokesperson, Deputy Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin, sought from the HSE a full breakdown of the figures on all of the departments and specialties at the hospital in respect of outpatient waiting times to see exactly how long people wait to see a consultant and get into the system. It is fair to state that once people get into the system they get the very best treatment in our acute hospital services, and certainly Waterford Regional Hospital is a strong performing hospital where people get the very best treatment when they are in the system.

The figures released to us by the HSE show that a total of 28,479 people in the south east who depend on Waterford Regional Hospital are on outpatient waiting lists waiting to see a consultant. Of these, 11,338, which is 40% of the total number, have been waiting for longer than a year and 20% have been waiting for more than two years. The Minister has often said in the House that he wants all of the hospitals to meet the target he sets and that he will be very tough with the managers of the hospitals to ensure the targets are met. The problem is not getting tough with managers of hospitals. In some respects the problem is capacity and the fact we do not have enough consultants or staff to cater for the need.

Orthopaedics at Waterford Regional Hospital is a good example where the clinical director and the consultants who work in the sector will say if they are asked that twice as many referrals come to the hospital than there is capacity to treat. The target set by the Minister is a national guarantee that no patient will wait for longer than one year to see a consultant. Unfortunately this is not the case. To give the Minister a flavour of the areas involved, in dermatology 49% of patients have been waiting more than 12 months, the figure for general medicine is 37%, for ophthalmology it is 32%, for orthopaedics it is 44% and for pain relief it is 53%.

I know the Minister cannot micromanage everything that happens in the health service and he cannot comment on individual cases, but recently I dealt with a stroke victim who is having difficulty getting gallstones removed. She has been waiting for months to see a pain specialist. She has no speech whatsoever but has been waiting for months to see a pain specialist. Another person had a biopsy done on one of her glands and on two occasions she was booked into the hospital for elective surgery to have the lump removed but the procedure was cancelled on both occasions. A number of elective surgeries have been cancelled at Waterford Regional Hospital this year. The reason is very simple; it is capacity. We have closed a ward and two surgical theatres. The hospital gets full quickly which means there is no capacity to carry out elective surgeries. This means they are cancelled which creates havoc with waiting times. As the Minister knows it is very difficult on patients who are building up to having a procedure done and then it does not happen.

As the Minister is here he might also comment on plans to expand cardiology services at Waterford Regional Hospital. One of the hooks on which the Higgins report was sold to the people of the south east was that we would have a 24-seven cardiology service, but the Higgins report mentions enhanced cardiology services. Will we have 24-seven cardiology services? How will the Minister make it a reality? My main question is on the outpatient waiting times and the fact that unfortunately the targets set by the Minister are not being met.