Hospital Staff
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Mary Butler (FF), Waterford

I have a briefing note here that states that CHI has a staffing complement of 8.8 whole-time consultant dermatologists. These are 8.8 whole-time equivalent, or funded recurring consultant dermatologists, across three CHI sites but it is currently operating within 6.3 whole-time equivalents. That is the information I have. I also know from my own area, and Deputy Michael Murphy will be aware of this as well, that in the old CHO 5 area, for example, dermatology consultants are scarce and it is difficult to recruit them.
To return to what the Deputy said about the letter only being submitted last night, I can follow up on that in relation to the additional dermatologist posts that have been sought. Thankfully, with the new regional structure, the six regional executive officers have received their cohort of staffing numbers. There were 3,300 this year: 300 for mental health and 3,000 for all other definitions. They are able to decide and determine whether they want to prioritise a certain speciality. I will certainly follow up on this for the Deputy because it is very difficult for young children with eczema, psoriasis or acne, or teenagers with acne. Looking at the waiting lists, they are quite long. I thank the Deputy for raising this matter; it is a really important one first thing this morning.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-18