Thomas Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I call on the Leader to arrange an urgent debate with the Minister for Health. He is now becoming the Minister for photo opportunities while the health service and public confidence in it continues to collapse. This follows the latest announcement through the media, of course, since the Minister, Deputy Varadkar, knows only too well that the media is the place to do business. There are severe problems. At least one case we know of involves a delayed cancer diagnosis in west Cork. I understand it was revealed through the media this morning. That is most concerning. We need to know when the problems were first detected. When did the Minister learn about the crisis? Why did he stay silent for so long? How many patients are affected? How many hospitals are affected, other than those we have learned of? What action has Minister taken to address the dangers?

Clearly there is a problem with individual radiologists, but there is a bigger problem with management of the health service. How do we manage our staff? How do we replace staff who are retiring? How do we replace staff who are going on sick leave or maternity leave? That is the problem. The matter has been completely mismanaged by the Minister, Deputy Varadkar. The public is beginning to find him out. We need an urgent debate on the matter. People may well die because of this; we do not know for sure but certainly people have suffered more. I know someone who was certainly misdiagnosed regarding an orthopaedic matter. This caused serious pain for the person for a year or more and it is continuing. It is not good enough for the health service or for the Minister to stay silent on the matter. As I understand it, he has not answered any of these questions yet.