Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 11 November 2014
349. Deputy Gabrielle McFadden asked the Minister for Health if he will confirm that Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital has issued a letter to eye doctors in the midlands that patients in this region who require surgery such as cataract surgery will have to attend a clinic in Portlaoise before being placed on the list for surgery in this hospital. [42823/14]
View answer350. Deputy Gabrielle McFadden asked the Minister for Health his views that eye doctors in the midlands will now be compelled to put their patients requiring cataract surgery on a waiting list to be seen first by a surgeon at a clinic; his views that this will become a long list as there is only one surgeon as opposed to 15 surgeons at the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital. [42824/14]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 349 and 350 together.
The HSE has advised that a joint collaborative service has been in operation for many years between the Midlands Regional Hospital Mullingar, the Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise and the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, Dublin (RVEEH). The service was put in place to facilitate patients who attend, in the first instance, the service nearest their own home and are then, as appropriate, referred for surgery or further treatment to the national tertiary service in the RVEEH.
I have been further advised that the purpose of the letters issued to three GPs by RVEEH on 16th October 2014 was to ensure that all GP primary referrals for the region are processed the same way and in a manner that ensures equitable access to surgery/treatment in RVEEH for patients from the midlands area. The hospital has confirmed that, as the national tertiary referral centre for Ophthalmology, they will continue to clinically triage all tertiary referrals received from throughout the country and refer the patients for the appropriate treatment.
