Maire Devine (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for taking this matter. The bones of the issue are really simple. The HSE conducted interviews for the position of medical oncologist with a special interest in sarcoma at St. Vincent's University Hospital on Tuesday, 14 March 2017. Now we are informed that a successful candidate from that process is due to start in the summer of 2019. Should the sarcoma specialist commence work this summer, it will have been three years since the Minister for Health, Deputy Harris, created the post and two and half years since interviews were held.According to the HSE's policy, external recruitment candidates will be required to take up duty within three months of the receipt of a formal offer of employment. Furthermore, the HSE states it reserves the right to withdraw an offer of employment should appointees fail to meet the timeframe for taking up a position. However, St. Vincent's University Hospital stated that, as a voluntary hospital, it operates its own recruitment policy and has full discretion regarding appointments.

We talk about value for money and adherence to policies but the hospital is funded by the State, which does not often sit comfortably with the hospital, so it should follow the HSE guidelines. The hospital was not slow about following the HSE's guidelines when it came to pay cuts for healthcare staff. The hospital cannot pick and choose what it will adhere to.

My involvement started when I met a gravely ill group of sarcoma patients who had set up a support group and this is one of first issues that I lobbied on as a new Senator in 2016. We managed to secure a meeting with the Minister for Health that summer. Lo and behold who comes in behind him, whom we had not invited, only a troupe of personnel or top dogs from St. Vincent's hospital. These people tried to answer for the Minister but he was there to answer to sick patients, many of whom have died since.

I seek clarity on three issues. What is the Minister of State's stance on publicly funded hospitals applying their own recruitment policies that have damaging consequences for patients? Why was a temporary contract not offered to cover the period of more than two years since the departure of the last sarcoma specialist? What will the Minister and the Minister of State do to immediately rectify a situation whereby patients still do not have access to an oncologist specialist in sarcoma?