David Cullinane (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Yesterday, a number of Senators, including me, raised the issue of long waiting lists in hospitals with 50,000 patients across the State waiting more than 12 months to be seen. As the Leader acknowledged yesterday in his response, it is unacceptable that in Waterford and the south-east, 6,300 patients are waiting longer than 12 months for an out-patient appointment. That is for an appointment just to get into the system, before there is any treatment or care.

Yesterday, we had an announcement by the Minister for Health on the review of the medical card fiasco. It is impossible to know at this stage how that will work out. We had the announcement from the Minister but need an opportunity to probe him on it and to find out exactly how it will impact on patients with medical cards. There is not a Senator or Deputy who has not been lobbied by dozens of people who lost their cards for a range of reasons. It is very important that the Minister comes to the Seanad to discuss the issue. An amendment to the Order of Business was tabled yesterday. While I would be slow to do that again today, I ask the Leader to arrange for the Minister to come back to the House in the next few weeks to discuss the announcement yesterday and the figures released on long waiting lists. They are important issues.