Varadkar attacks hospitals for turning away patients

Health Minister Leo Varadkar has hit out at hospital doctors who are refusing to accept patients outside their local area because they cannot cope with excessive waiting lists — insisting no such veto exists.

Reacting to weekend revelations that a small number of consultants in some of the country’s largest hospitals are rejecting referrals — including one for a 10-year-old suicidal boy — due to the chronic system problems, Mr Varadkar said the practice must not be allowed to continue.

Documents obtained by the National Association for General Practitioners, reported in the Sunday Business Post, show that, in recent weeks, patients referred to publicly funded hospital services are being turned away.