TD Mattie McGrath takes HSE to task over treatment delays

An independent TD has slammed the HSE and the Minister for Health after it was revealed to him that almost 400 people in the HSE South and South Tipperary region are waiting up to four years for orthodontic and other dental work.

Tipperary and West Waterford TD Mattie McGrath was speaking after he received a reply to the parliamentary question he had placed seeking clarification around the unacceptably high waiting times being experienced by his constituents.

He said: “The numbers speak for themselves and they are clearly indicative of a near collapse in terms of reasonable waiting times that patients should have to experience. There are 829 people having to wait between 13 to 24 months and a truly shocking 1,056 people waiting anything between two to three years. These are appalling statistics and speak to the untold misery that families and individuals are having to go through as part as the creaking HSE process for appointments.

“The minister in his reply to my PQ says that it is estimated that in up to five per cent of cases it is necessary to wait for further dental growth to take place before treatment commences; but this leaves the other 95 per cent of patients in the no man’s land of uncertain treatment times. “It is simply not good enough.&rdquo