Govt under fire regarding colonoscopy waiting times

The Government is coming under fire from the opposition follows revelations about the amount of time some public patients are waiting for a basic procedure to diagnose bowel cancer.

New figures show that more than 900 patients are waiting between three months and two years for potentially life-saving colonoscopy examinations.

Fine Gael health spokesman Dr James Reilly says the continued delays come despite the huge publicity surrounding the issue following the death of cancer sufferer Susie Long in October 2007.

Labour's Jan O'Sullivan, meanwhile, says the figures are a damning indictment of the Government's failure to end the two-tier health service.