32-month wait to see consultant for Cork patient

A WOMAN in her 40s with acute rheumatoid arthritis was given an appointment to see a specialist, but she will have to wait more than two-and-a-half years to see her consultant.

The woman, a patient of Dr Ciaran Donovan, a GP in Blackpool in Cork city, was advised last week she could attend the consultant in 32 months’ time.

Dr Donovan described the delay as a “non-service” and said the woman should have been told there was no appointment available because it amounted to the same thing. He was speaking at the annual conference of the Irish Medical Organisation which took place in Killarney at the weekend.