Colette Kelleher (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister of State but it is disappointing the Minister, Deputy Harris, is not here.While the Minister of State has a big brief, I do not believe gynaecology is part of it. Women in Cork city are waiting longer for gynaecology services than women in any other part of Ireland. It is utterly unacceptable.

There are 4,193 women waiting for an outpatient appointment in Cork, the longest waiting list of all gynaecology units and twice the next longest waiting list. There are 557 women waiting for gynaecology surgeries, again the longest such waiting list. As Senator Colm Burke outlined, the gynaecology theatres are functioning at 40% of their capacity. Although we have two fully commissioned, state-of-the-art gynaecology theatres, they are not operating to full capacity. As Senator Colm Burke said, a small investment could have them fully operational. No new consultant gynaecologist posts have been created in Cork in the past decade, despite the fact that 26 posts were filled nationwide. The waiting lists are having devastating consequences for women. Women are in pain, bleeding and turning up at accident and emergency units in crisis. As a woman, the Minister of State knows a delayed diagnosis means cancer that could be treated might be growing. It is a life and death matter for women in Cork.

The solutions are clear. The Government must increase the gynaecology theatre to a five-day service, open the second theatre, develop the proposed gynaecology unit with Cork University Maternity Hospital, CUMH, bring forward the one-stop shop which was in the 2014 service plan and increase the number of gynaecologists. At the end of September, I raised the matter at the health committee, and the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, asked me to write to him, which I did. He still has not had the courtesy to respond to me. It is very similar to what is happening locally. People have raised these matters and Senator Colm Burke is correct that relationships are very poor locally. We need the Minister to intervene to get the situation rectified for the women of Cork.

These unacceptable waiting lists will not go away on their own. If ignored, they will get worse, creating hardship and ill-health and putting the lives of women in Cork and surrounding areas at risk. Consultants in the hospital have been forced to say they cannot take responsibility for the adverse health outcomes arising from a well-documented chronic lack of investment which has resulted in the longest waiting lists in the country. Therefore, I ask the Minister of State to take back a message to the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, namely, will he take responsibility, take action and resolve the issue?