A man who has waited three years for an operation to relieve a condition which causes intense chest pains told the conference he has suffered "an awful lot of pain". Mr George Delaney said "the pain across my chest is just unbearable". On some occasions he had gone to the emergency department of Tallaght Hospital because he thought he was having a heart attack.
His condition can be treated by the insertion of a valve, but his surgeon is unable to get enough theatre time to operate on him, he said.
"Last year I was told I was on the priority list. When I asked what it meant I was told it was just another word." The illness had prevented him from working and he had no social life, he said.
"I have inquired about going private and I was told I could get it done about six months down the road but I haven't got the money."
Fourteen per cent of households in a survey in Tallaght have at least one member waiting for health care, Prof Tom O'Dowd told the conference.
He likened Tallaght to "a great holding ward outside the hospital". Some of the treatments for which people are waiting "are not very complicated. Surely something can be done about that."
A survey by the Department of Community Health and General Practice in Trinity College, where Dr O'Dowd is Professor of General Practice, had found high levels of stress (over 50 per cent), chronic illness (over 50 per cent) and disability (11 per cent) in the Tallaght population.
"The study reveals alarming practices during pregnancy," he said. "Over 50 per cent of pregnancies are unplanned, 7 per cent of the women received no antenatal checks and over 25 per cent had no post-natal check."