Consultant to join Kerry General ‘in late 2012’ after delay

A long-awaited consultant rheumatologist is set to finally start working at Kerry General by December — months after the hospital was told the move would be blocked until it “pays its bills”.

The HSE South has confirmed the Tralee-based facility will see the specialist doctor join its workforce “in late 2012”.

The appointment of the consultant, tasked with reducing significant waiting lists which particularly affect elderly patients with chronic conditions, was meant to take place last Spring.

However, the Irish Examiner revealed in March the move had been delayed until the hospital — which suffered a 2011 to 2012 budget cut of €2.47m and by July was €1.73m in the red — sorted out its financial problems.

During the March HSE South regional health forum meeting, the health service’s area manager for Kerry, Michael Fitzgerald, said the appointment was “dependent on the overall performance of the hospital throughout the year”.

He said despite the need for a consultant, keeping existing costs within budget remained at the front of the agenda.

At the time, 91 patients were waiting more than three months for specialised rheumatology care at the Kerry hospital.

Many others were being transferred to CUH, causing further waiting list backlogs, with the figures for the Cork hospital at the time showing 116 people waiting three to six months and 130 waiting up to a year.

There are currently 239 people waiting for treatment at Kerry General.

A HSE South spokesperson said: “A consultant rheumatologist has been appointed to Kerry General. We have established a start date for this consultant which is subject to the person working out their contractual commitments elsewhere.

We anticipate that the start date will enable the commencement of the rheumatology service in late 2012.”

Under plans announced in 2006 as part of a comprehensive review of services in Munster, the HSE South was to see one consultant rheumatologist appointed to work between Kerry General and the South Infirmary Victoria University Hospital in Cork City.

The Kerry service currently involves a visiting rheumatologist attending one day every month, seeing 30-40 patients per visit.