Five-year wait for health service plastic surgery

PATIENTS needing plastic surgery are waiting for up to five years for treatment in the public health service, one of the country’s leading plastic surgeons said yesterday.

“Due to these waiting lists we need to double the number of surgeons from 17 to 36,” said Michael Earley, the first Irish president of the British Association of Plastic Surgeons.

Mr Earley said such delays often added to the hardship for people requiring treatment as their condition, in many cases, became progressively worse.