Vol. 401 No. 5
9 Mr. McCartan asked the Minister for Health the number of gynaecologists available for (a) consultation and (b) surgery at (1) Beaumont Hospital, Dublin 9 and (2) the Mater Hospital, Dublin 7; the number of women on the waiting lists for surgery or consultation with gynaecologists at each hospital and the average waiting time; if it is intended to appoint any additional gynaecologist for these hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter.
There are two consultant gynaecologist posts at Beaumont, both of which are part-time. One of these posts is vacant at present and interviews for the post were held recently. Unfortunately, the successful candidate declined the offer of the post and it has recently been re-advertised. Three consultant gynaecologists are employed at the Mater Hospital. Two are full-time posts while the third is shared with Holles Street and UCD. Consultants in both Beaumont Hospital and the Mater Hospital provide services for both in-patients and out-patients.
The number of patients on the gynaecology out-patient waiting list at Beaumont is 60 and the waiting time for a patient placed on the waiting list now is approximately three months. The corresponding figures for the Mater are 79 and three weeks respectively. However, depending on the medical need, patients can be seen within a week.
There are currently 22 patients on the waiting list for in-patient admission to Beaumont and 231 for the Mater. In order to ensure that emergency and urgent cases can be dealt with promptly, patients' positions on the in-patient waiting list are kept under review and are subject to change. The precise length of time spent on the waiting list for admission will therefore depend on the medical need of each individual case.
Staffing levels in hospitals are monitored on a monthly basis by my Department. No applications for additional consultant gynaecologist posts from either Beaumont or the Mater have been received.
I did not hear the Minister's reply about consultants at Beaumont but I took him to suggest that one of the positions there is part-time. Will the Minister clarify that? Beaumont Hospital serves the greater part of the north side of the city and the position there is anything but satisfactory. Will the Minister accept that it requires urgent attention? Will he agree that requiring women to wait up to three months for a general appointment with a gynaecologist is totally unacceptable? I should like to invite the Minister to look at the position in Beaumont in view of the extraordinary period of time, almost one-third of the period of gestation, that must pass before a woman can see a gynaecologist in the ordinary way in that hospital.
With regard to the last remark I am not sure that women who would be going to a gynaecologist in a general hospital would be expecting a baby; they would be going to an obstretrician in one of the obstretric hospitals. There are two posts in Beaumont Hospital and one of them is vacant. The post was advertised and interviews were held recently. The successful candidate declined the offer of the post and it had to be readvertised. The closing date for that competition is Friday 27 July and that is the reason there is a problem in that hospital. I am sure the Deputy will appreciate that neither the Minister, or his Department, have any control over that. We intend to fill the post as quickly as possible.
I should like to thank the Minister for his response which I found disappointing. Is the Minister satisfied with the standard of performance and the disparity in the waiting period — it is three weeks at the Mater and three months at Beaumount? The Minister has told us that there are 231 patients waiting for in-patient treatment at the Mater and only 22 at Beaumont. There seems to be a huge imbalance there and I should like to know if the Minister is concerned about that. How long has there been a vacancy at Beaumont Hospital? How long does the Minister consider the hospital will have to wait before the post will be filled? Will the Minister advise us on what was unattractive to the so-called successful candidate?
I do not have the information sought but, obviously, the post has been vacant for some time because there is no locum serving at the moment and there has not been one since the middle of 1989. Since Mr. Alvey took over the in-patient waiting list has gone down.
It has because the patients have been sent elsewhere.
I do not have that information but if the Deputy passes on the relevant information I will be happy to have the matter investigated. The post has been readvertised and the closing date is Friday, 27 July. I am anxious that the filling of the post be expedited but, as the Deputy is aware, a protocol must be followed in that there is a closing date, interviews must be held, and there will be a time lag before the appointment is made because the person appointed must give notice to his former employer. It is not easy to fill the post as rapidly as I, or the Deputy, would like.
