MORE THAN 3,500 patients in the southeast are waiting two to three years to see a dermatologist, the Oireachtas health committee was told yesterday.
Labour senator Phil Prendergast said the patients were awaiting routine appointments for assessment of conditions such as eczema which, she said, could affect quality of life, interpersonal relationships and job prospects.
Furthermore, she said, babies with eczema could be waiting in pain for six months to be seen.
She said that while a Comhairle na nOspidéal report recommended one consultant dermatologist for every 100,000 of the population, there was only one consultant dermatologist in the south- east and he had to deal with a population of 460,000.
Questioned on whether another consultant might be appointed, the head of the HSE Prof Brendan Drumm said it was something he would look at.
He acknowledged there were huge problems in relation to some outpatient waiting times but he stressed that already this year 80,000 more patients were seen in outpatient clinics than planned.
Meanwhile, Minister for Health Mary Harney confirmed to the committee that an additional €97 million would be ringfenced next year for the new Fair Deal nursing home support scheme. That would be in addition to the €55 million set aside for it this year.
She said a proposal in the McCarthy report to change one aspect of the Fair Deal scheme would not be taken on board. The Fair Deal scheme allows nursing home residents to defer the cost of their care until after death, when up to 15 per cent of the value of their home can be collected to pay for the cost of their care. The McCarthy report proposed this be raised to 22.5 per cent.
Meanwhile, Fine Gael TD Paul Connaughton said while the scheme allowed for a charge to be levied against a person's home for a maximum of three years (at 5 per cent a year) there was no cap on the length of time the 5 per cent charge could be made against the farm or business of a nursing home resident. This would cause havoc in future, among farm families in particular, he suggested.
Ms Harney said the absence of a cap on levies against farms was there to encourage farmers to hand on their farms as early as possible to the next generation.