Dublin South West TD, Seán Crowe, has described figures he has received from the interim Minister for Health, Simon Harris, regarding waiting times to see a Dermatologist in St. James’ Hospital as ‘disturbing and dangerous.’

Crowe was informed that currently 3,614 patients are on the waiting list to see a Dermatologist and 1,874 have been waiting over 6 months for an appointment.

Deputy Seán Crowe said:

“Having to wait 6 months or more for to see a dermatologist in St. James’ Hospital is not only cruel but also dangerous. There are currently 3,614 people waiting to see a dermatologist and over half have been waiting 6 months or more, with 430 waiting 12-15 months and 198 waiting over 15 months. This is clearly not acceptable and cannot be allowed to continue.

“Minister Harris’ reply which outlined these excessive and dangerous waiting times is troubling.

“Treatment for a medical condition in Ireland should not be reliant on where you live, who you know, or how much money you have, but that is largely the way his health system has evolved under successive Governments.

“Surely anyone in need of medical care for inflamed, irritating, infected skin conditions, should not have to wait months and or even years as they while their condition worsens. This is downright cruel, dangerous, and unacceptable.”

Crowe continued:

“There are now more than 677,000 people on waiting lists for a medical procedure, that’s around one in every seven people in the State. 107,040 if them have been waiting more than 18 months.

“We need radical change in our health service. This is what people voted for on 8 February. Sinn Féin want to form a government which will tackle these waiting lists by hiring more staff, reopening closed beds, building new beds and wards where they are needed, and having elective only hospitals.

“We also want to approach waiting lists differently than ever before through the introduction of a new system, Comhliosta, a new and single Integrated Hospital Waiting List Management System.”

ENDS