Health delays - Reform is taking far, far too long

IF TAOISEACH Bertie Ahern did not have the Mahon Tribunal to distract public attention from the litany of scandals that pass for management in our health services he would have to invent something equally distracting.

However, he might prefer something less intrusive or persistent. Something less interested in sterling and the great plethora of bank accounts needed to run a constituency office, buy houses for distressed aunts with someone else’s money, or accounts opened “with a view to getting a mortgage at a later date.”

Today we report on the lack of services and long delays facing the one-in-six people who suffer from arthritis. Previously unpublished Health Service Executive data shows that patients are waiting up to four years — yes, that’s right, four years — to be seen by a rheumatologist in Sligo, Leitrim, Donegal, Cork or South Dublin. Even worse, if your situation is urgent, and you are unlucky enough to live in Galway or South Dublin you will have to wait for 18 months.